Find Your Daily Voice
54°
Tag: Undercover Operation
Life Sentences Cut Short For Brothers Convicted In Violent South Jersey Bank Robberies: Feds
The life sentences have been reduced for two New Jersey brothers convicted in a string of violent crimes, including armed bank robberies and a thwarted armored car heist in the late 90s, authorities said.
Charles Rodriguez, 58, and Joseph Rodriguez, 57, were re-sentenced to 30 years in prison for committing two armed bank robberies and conspiring to rob an armored car, New Jersey's U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger said in a news release on Tuesday, Dec. 17.
The brothers were initially convicted in 1999 after a six-week jury trial on conspiracy, carjacking, multiple armed robberies, …
Child SEX Sting: German Traveler Busted At NJ Hotel After Flying In: Authorities
A German man who flew to the United States for what he thought would be sex with children 10 and 11 years old at a New Jersey hotel was instead arrested by undercover officers, authorities said.
Christian Stefan Walther, 38, of Erfurt, Germany, communicated with two officers via email, phone, and an encrypted messaging app about his “desire for sexual encounters with young children,” U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
The officers had posed as members of a group of child predators who had access to young children, he said.
Walther, who called himself a "perv to some extent," sen…
Essex Jail Officer, GF Stung By FBI In Scheme To Smuggle In Tobacco, Cell Phones: Feds
A corrections officer and his girlfriend were busted for smuggling tobacco and cellphones into the Essex County Jail from a source who turned out to be an undercover FBI agent, federal authorities said.
Efrin Wade, 34, and Yairisa Lizardo, 29, both of Jersey City, accepted $14,000 for the illegal acts and apparently were counting on another $30,000 when they were busted, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip Sellinger said following their arrests on Tuesday, March 14.
Wade, who’d worked as a corrections officer at the Essex County Correctional Facility (ECCF) in Newark since February 2020, be…
Jersey Shore Man Seeks Sex With Teenage Girl, Hooks Up With Law Enforcement Agent: Prosecutor
A 66-year-old man from Long Branch, who allegedly was seeking sex with a 13-year-old girl, was instead arrested by law enforcement in a joint probe with the FBI.
Samuel H. Christopher, 66, is charged with luring, attempted sexual assault of a minor, child endangerment and attempted criminal sexual contact with a minor, according to Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Lori Linskey.
The investigation began earlier this summer, when Christopher allegedly engaged in conversations with an undercover officer online, believing the officer to be a teenage girl, Linskey said.
Christopher allegedly ma…
British Man Hired Undercover Agent To Arrange Sex With Drugged Girls: Feds
A British citizen has been charged with trying to pay for sex with New Jersey girls while giving them drugs, federal authorities said.
Stephen Hudson, 51, of Ealing, England, is charged with one count of attempted online enticement of a minor and one count of travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, they said.
He was charged on Monday, May 9, according to U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger
He appeared by videoconference before U.S. Magistrate Judge José R. Almonte in Newark federal court and was detained.
According to authorities, from April 14, to Friday, May 6, H…
FBI Sting: Ex-Paraguayan Lawmaker, Husband Admit Roles In $2 Million Drug Money Laundering Plot
A former member of Paraguay’s Congress thought that she and her husband were laundering $800,000 in drug money when they’d actually been caught in a New Jersey-based FBI sting, federal authorities said.
Cynthia Elizabeth Tarragó, 41, also promised the purported drug traffickers that she could get them large quantities of cocaine at a good price, they said.
Both Tarragó and her husband, Raimundo Va, 45, took guilty pleas in exchange for leniency at sentencing, admitting in federal court in Trenton this week that they conspired to launder what they believed would be as much $2 million in drug…
