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UPDATE: Number Of Victims Of Repeat Sex Trafficker Reaches Four In NJ, PA, Authorities Charge UPDATE: Number Of Victims Of Repeat Sex Trafficker Reaches Four In NJ, PA, Authorities Charge
Update: Number Of Victims Of Repeat Sex Trafficker Reaches Four In NJ, PA, Authorities Charge The number of alleged victims of a paroled sex trafficker from New Jersey has reached four, federal authorities said. Amin Sharif, 48, of Newark had been free for a year after serving nearly a decade in federal prison when he returned to pimping women and girls, authorities said. Federal agents seized Sharif on sex trafficking charges in January 2022, and have held him since then, while continuing an ongoing investigation that produced an indictment that cites the additional victims. Sharif "used several social media platforms and profiles to recruit women and minors to engage in sex acts…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Saudi National Who Drove Stolen NJ School Bus To PA Indicted By Federal Grand Jury Saudi National Who Drove Stolen NJ School Bus To PA Indicted By Federal Grand Jury
Saudi National Who Drove Stolen NJ School Bus To PA Indicted By Federal Grand Jury A college student from Saudi Arabia who stole a school bus in Livingston, NJ, and drove it nearly 60 miles to Stroudsburg, PA, has been indicted by a federal grand jury, authorities said. Bader Alzahrani, a 22-year-old divorced sophomore who attends an undisclosed college, broke into a vacant home across the street from a Livingston Board of Education parking lot on Hill Side Avenue where the bus was parked on Jan. 15, the indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Newark says. The district reported the bus stolen two days later. Police found a backpack with a Saudi Arabian passport bea…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Burglar With Hit List Of Asian Homeowners In NJ, NY, PA, DE Gets 50 Months In Federal Prison Burglar With Hit List Of Asian Homeowners In NJ, NY, PA, DE Gets 50 Months In Federal Prison
Burglar With Hit List Of Asian Homeowners In NJ, NY, PA, DE Gets 50 Months In Federal Prison UPDATE: A member of a second-story crew who targeted Asian and Asian-American homeowners in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware for burglaries was sentenced to a plea-bargained four years and two months in federal prison, authorities said. Randi Barr, 42, of Union County, NJ, was part of a group that worked from a hit list of dozens of homes based on “stereotype and opportunity,” federal authorities said. Local, state and federal law enforcement authorities who teamed up to smash the ring found notes in the defendants’ cars that had the home addresses of individuals of Asian des…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
'Altared' State: NJ Sisters Admit Staging Sham Marriages To Keep Non-Citizens In US 'Altared' State: NJ Sisters Admit Staging Sham Marriages To Keep Non-Citizens In US
'Altared' State: NJ Sisters Admit Staging Sham Marriages To Keep Non-Citizens In US UPDATE: Two sisters from Newark admitted obtaining phony marriage licenses and staging bogus wedding ceremonies, receptions and other events in an elaborate scheme to help undocumented non-citizens avoid deportation, federal authorities said. Regina Johnson, 59, and her sister, Andrea Torres, ran the sham scam for nearly three years, recruiting and paying U.S. citizens to pose as spouses, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Their clients: non-citizens looking to remain in the country despite the lack of legal status or proper documentation. As part of the fraud, the sisters "…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
'Y’All Never Gonna Find Me': NJ Feds Seize Ex-Con Who Taunted Cops After Dunkin Donuts Shooting 'Y’All Never Gonna Find Me': NJ Feds Seize Ex-Con Who Taunted Cops After Dunkin Donuts Shooting
'Y’All Never Gonna Find Me': NJ Feds Seize Ex-Con Who Taunted Cops After Dunkin Donuts Shooting A Clifton ex-con and former associate of rapper Fetty Wap who taunted police on Instagram following a shooting at a local Dunkin’ Donuts is now in federal custody. Surveillance video shows Justin Pope, 36, firing several shots at a woman who fled a Mercedes Benz during an argument in the parking lot of the Van Houten Avenue donut shop shortly after 9 p.m. July 12, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. He missed her, but a bullet crashed through the window of the Dunkin' Donuts. The bullet ended up "lodged in an electronic menu screen located above the cash registers of the…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
NJ Politico Gets 24 Years, No Parole, For Hiring Hit Men Who Killed, Burned Longtime Associate NJ Politico Gets 24 Years, No Parole, For Hiring Hit Men Who Killed, Burned Longtime Associate
NJ Politico Gets 24 Years, No Parole, For Hiring Hit Men Who Killed, Burned Longtime Associate UPDATE: A New Jersey political consultant was sentenced to 24 years in federal prison for hiring two hitmen to kill a longtime associate from Hudson County. Sean Caddle, 45, of Hamburg, will have to serve just about all of the plea-bargained sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Caddle, a former aide to former State Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Elizabeth), admitted last year that he paid the killers to whack Michael Galdieri, the son of former State Sen. James Galdieri (D-Jersey City) and a prominent figure in local Hudson County politics. Galdieri, 52, who'd worked for…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Feds: It's 30 Years With No Parole For NJ Dad, 62, Who Made, Shared Child Rape Streams, Videos Feds: It's 30 Years With No Parole For NJ Dad, 62, Who Made, Shared Child Rape Streams, Videos
Feds: It's 30 Years With No Parole For NJ Dad, 62, Who Made, Shared Child Rape Streams, Videos UPDATE: A 62-year-old New Jersey father of three must spend the next 30 years in a federal penitentiary with no opportunity for parole for producing and sharing live streams and videos of children being sexually assaulted – some of them by him. Antonio Del Prado of Millburn must serve out the entire plea-bargained sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton also sentenced him to 10 years of supervised release. Del Prado theoretically would have to live into his 90s to ever breathe free air again -- and into his 100s before the gove…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Upstate NY Man Admits Assaulting Female Passenger On Flight To Newark Upstate NY Man Admits Assaulting Female Passenger On Flight To Newark
Upstate NY Man Admits Assaulting Female Passenger On Flight To Newark A New York State man admitted assaulting a female passenger on a flight to Newark Airport, federal authorities in New Jersey said. Ryan Manuella, 30, "moved to a vacant seat next to a female passenger and touched the passenger without her consent" on a flight from Denver on April 16, 2021, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Manuella -- of the Erie County town of Cheektowaga, just northeast of Buffalo -- didn't know the woman, according to a complaint on file in U.S. District Court in Newark. The victim then yelled at him and left the row of seats, Sellinger said. Manuella took a deal…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Colombian Nationals Nabbed After NJ Home Break-In Nets Jewelry, Furs, Cash, More Colombian Nationals Nabbed After NJ Home Break-In Nets Jewelry, Furs, Cash, More
Colombian Nationals Nabbed After NJ Home Break-In Nets Jewelry, Furs, Cash, More Three Colombian nationals remain in federal custody and a fourth has already been deported after the government said they stole jewelry, a Rolex, an antique rifle, furs and cash in a home burglary in Union County. The quartet also took a stamp collection, luxury bags and more after breaking into the Cranford home shortly before 5 p.m. last Nov. 30, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. They then loaded the valuables into a red Honda Accord that they'd driven there, an FBI complaint on file in U.S. District Court in Newark says. Sellinger, who put the total value of the loss at more than …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Crane Operator Who Made $1.5M At Port Newark Convicted Of Tax Fraud: Feds Crane Operator Who Made $1.5M At Port Newark Convicted Of Tax Fraud: Feds
Crane Operator Who Made $1.5M At Port Newark Convicted Of Tax Fraud: Feds A crane mechanic at the Port Newark Container Terminal was convicted by a federal jury of trying to cheat the IRS. Over a five-year period beginning in 2014, Jonathan D. Michael of Union County gave his boss a W-4 falsely claiming that he was exempt from having any federal tax withheld, authorities said. The IRS notified Michael in 2016 that he wasn't entitled to exempt status, but he wrote to the company and contended that his bogus W-4 was correct, they said. Michael, of Springfield, also didn't file any personal income tax returns, even though he was paid roughly $1.5 million in salary,…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Ex-Con NJ Bloods Leader Known As 'Hellboy' Gets 10 Years, No Parole, After Undercover PCP Sting Ex-Con NJ Bloods Leader Known As 'Hellboy' Gets 10 Years, No Parole, After Undercover PCP Sting
Ex-Con NJ Bloods Leader Known As 'Hellboy' Gets 10 Years, No Parole, After Undercover PCP Sting UPDATE: The leader of a Bloods subset that ruled some East Orange, Newark and Orange neighborhoods must spend the next 10 years in federal prison after he got stung selling PCP to an undercover agent. Tyree Thomas, 29, of Irvington -- known on the street as “Hellboy” -- had two loaded guns to protect the drugs and proceeds in a stash house that was raided after he repeatedly peddled phencyclidine to the agent from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. Agents seized a 9mm Glock 19 and a .380-caliber Grendel P1O…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Hudson Cryptothief Who Swapped Victim's SIM Card To Steal $500G Goes To Fed Pen Hudson Cryptothief Who Swapped Victim's SIM Card To Steal $500G Goes To Fed Pen
Hudson Cryptothief Who Swapped Victim's SIM Card To Steal $500G Goes To Fed Pen A 20-year-old Hudson County man must spend nearly two years in federal prison for his role in stealing more than $500,000 worth of cryptocurrency by swapping a SIM card from the victim’s phone. Ebrahem Adeeb of Bayonne must serve out just about all of the plea-bargained 21-month sentence because there’s no parole in the federal prison system. His deal with the government also requires him to pay $504,418 in restitution to his victims, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said following the sentencing on Tuesday, May 23. Adeeb and his conspirators swiped the subscriber identity module from the…

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by Jerry DeMarco