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Police & Fire
Wildwood Trio Accused Of Selling Cocaine Near Sports Complex Wildwood Trio Accused Of Selling Cocaine Near Sports Complex
Wildwood Trio Accused Of Selling Cocaine Near Sports Complex Three people from Cape May County were accused of selling cocaine and having pills, authorities said. Wildwood police arrested three city residents: 49-year-old Karl Abbatiello, 45-year-old Jill Caissie, and 34-year-old Robert Peterson, the department said in a Facebook post. The county's SWAT team executed a search warrant at a home on Garfield Avenue on Friday, Apr. 12. Investigators found "distribution amounts of suspected cocaine" in the home, as well as several pills believed to be a mix of acetaminophen and codeine. They also seized a digital scale, plastic baggies commonly used for d…

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by Chris Spiker
Police & Fire
Virginia Man Convicted For Role In DMV Dog Fighting Ring Virginia Man Convicted For Role In DMV Dog Fighting Ring
Virginia Man Convicted For Role In DMV Dog Fighting Ring A 45-year-old Stafford man has been convicted for his role in an animal fighting ring in the DMV for five years, federal officials said. Mark Joseph Rodriguez, aka “Slow Poke,” and co-conspirators from the region used a messaging app that they called "The DMV Board" or "The Board" to discuss training fighting dogs, exchange videos about dogfighting, and arrange and coordinate dog fights, out of view of law enforcement, Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said. Members of the DMV Board also used the app to compare methods of killing dogs that lost f…

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
Man Admits To Deadly Shooting In Crowded Atlantic City Hotel Lobby: Prosecutors Man Admits To Deadly Shooting In Crowded Atlantic City Hotel Lobby: Prosecutors
Man Admits To Deadly Shooting In Crowded Atlantic City Hotel Lobby: Prosecutors A Cumberland County man pleaded guilty in the shooting death of a man at an Atlantic City hotel, authorities said. Leon Green, 33, of Millville, entered a plea on Friday, Mar. 8, the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office said in a news release. He was charged in the deadly shooting of 22-year-old Yusef Abdullah on Friday, June 1, 2018. Investigators said Green entered the now-closed Fox Manor Hotel on Pacific Avenue and fired into the crowded lobby. Abdullah, who was not the intended target, was shot and died weeks later. The plea deal calls for Green to serve 30 years in state prison. He wo…

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by Chris Spiker
Police & Fire
Toms River Ex-Con Who Threatened To Kill Man, Had Fentanyl Sentenced: Prosecutors Toms River Ex-Con Who Threatened To Kill Man, Had Fentanyl Sentenced: Prosecutors
Toms River Ex-Con Who Threatened To Kill Man, Had Fentanyl Sentenced: Prosecutors A Toms River ex-convict will spend more than a decade in prison after punching a man and pulling a gun on him, authorities said. Raphael Powell, 37, was sentenced on Friday, Mar. 1 to 25 years in state prison, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer announced in a news release. A jury found Powell guilty of seven charges on Wednesday, Jan. 10. Toms River police responded to a man who was assaulted while entering a home on Rory Road at around 11 p.m. on Saturday, July 2, 2022. The victim told officers that another man approached him and asked what he was doing in t…

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by Chris Spiker
Police & Fire
Realtor Convicted Of Killing Her Father, Girlfriend In Jersey Shore Waterfront Home Realtor Convicted Of Killing Her Father, Girlfriend In Jersey Shore Waterfront Home
Realtor Convicted Of Killing Her Father, Girlfriend In Jersey Shore Waterfront Home A Pennsylvania realtor was convicted of killing her father and his girlfriend on the Jersey Shore, authorities said. After a four-week trial, a jury found Sherry Lee Heffernan, 57, of Landenberg, PA, guilty of two murder counts on Friday, Mar. 1, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer announced in a news release. She faces life in prison for the late September 2021 killings of 87-year-old John Enders of Surf City and 75-year-old Francoise Pitoy of Manchester. Surf City police conducted a wellness check at a home on North Seventh Street at around 4 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 3, 2…

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by Chris Spiker
Police & Fire
NJ Prison Officer Admits Looking Other Way While Inmates Were Beaten, Brutalized NJ Prison Officer Admits Looking Other Way While Inmates Were Beaten, Brutalized
NJ Prison Officer Admits Looking Other Way While Inmates Were Beaten, Brutalized 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: Nine months after a former corrections officer at a New Jersey prison was sentenced to 2½ years behind bars for admitting that he brutalized inmates in what one victim called a “fight club," a second officer cut his own deal with federal prosecutors. Joshua Hand, 34, of Millville, admitted in federal court in Camden on Monday, Feb. 26, that he stood by while two prisoners were being assaulted by fellow inmates at Bayside State Prison in Leesburg, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced. Hand violated both inmates' civil rights by not stopping their assailants or reporting the in…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Neshaminy Kids Club Worker Showed 'Dark Web' Suicides To Boys He Assaulted: Affidavit Neshaminy Kids Club Worker Showed 'Dark Web' Suicides To Boys He Assaulted: Affidavit
Neshaminy Kids Club Worker Showed 'Dark Web' Suicides To Boys He Assaulted: Affidavit A popular after school program previously employed a man who has been charged with sexually assaulting at least half a dozen boys who attended while he worked there, authorities in Pennsylvania said on Thursday, Dec. 21. Gerald William Spoto was an obese, glasses-wearing, 20-year-old employee at Neshaminy Kids Club when he allegedly sexually assaulted at least six boys, "who were between 7 and 13 years old at the time of the assaults, between 2000 and 2004," the Buck County District Attorney's Office said. These included a lengthy series of assaults during "sleepovers" in New…

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by Jillian Pikora
Police & Fire
NJ Man Who Sent Child Sex Links To Investigator For $20 Admits To Files With 22,000 Images NJ Man Who Sent Child Sex Links To Investigator For $20 Admits To Files With 22,000 Images
NJ Man Who Sent Child Sex Links To Investigator For $20 Admits To Files With 22,000 Images A South Jersey man who authorities said sent links for child sex abuse sites to what turned out to be undercover federal agents admitted possessing files that they said contained more than 22,000 horrific images. Al-Fahim Medina, 24, of Willingboro, had images of "sadistic and masochistic conduct" and other depictions of violence, sexual abuse and exploitation of children under 12 on a tablet and mobile phones, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. Some were even infants and toddlers, the U.S. attorney said. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents arranged a sting af…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Feds Finally Get Justice In Re-Sentencings Of NJ Army Major, Wife Who Abused 5 Kids Feds Finally Get Justice In Re-Sentencings Of NJ Army Major, Wife Who Abused 5 Kids
Feds Finally Get Justice In Re-Sentencings Of NJ Army Major, Wife Who Abused 5 Kids UPDATE: It took federal authorities three tries over more than eight years, but they finally got to see the punishment fit the crimes when a judge sentenced a Morris County couple who severely abused their children to extended prison terms. The sentences imposed in federal court in Newark on Monday, Oct. 30, "hold Carolyn Jackson and John Jackson accountable for their horrific crimes, and bring a measure of justice for their victims,” said U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger (photo above, left). Carolyn Jackson, 46, was sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison. John E.…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Galloway Woman Charged With Animal Cruelty To Dog, 21 Cats Galloway Woman Charged With Animal Cruelty To Dog, 21 Cats
Galloway Woman Charged With Animal Cruelty To Dog, 21 Cats A 34-year-old woman from South Jersey was indicted on 22 counts of animal cruelty, authorities said. Lourdes Martinez, of Galloway, was indicted by an Atlantic County grand jury on Tuesday, Oct. 10, according to the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office. Martinez was arrested on July 22 when Galloway Township Police made a warranted search of her home after numerous complaints from neighbors about animals living in unsanitary conditions. Once inside Martinez’s residence, police located 21 cats that were all in need of medical attention. All of the cats were later evaluated by a veterin…

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by Jon Craig
Police & Fire
Judge Dismisses Child Sex Charges Against 'Chopped' Kosher Chef From Teaneck Judge Dismisses Child Sex Charges Against 'Chopped' Kosher Chef From Teaneck
Judge Dismisses Child Sex Charges Against 'Chopped' Kosher Chef From Teaneck A judge in Hackensack dismissed child sex assault charges against a kosher chef from Teaneck who appeared on the Food Network show "Chopped.” Shalom Yehudiel, 41, had his rights violated by the FBI when federal authorities failed to surrender a video tied directly to the case, Bergen County Superior Court Judge Christopher Kazlau ruled on Monday, Aug. 7. The judge dismissed the charges without prejudice, which allows prosecutors to reinstate the case if any new evidence comes to light. Yehudiel had owned and operated The Humble Toast, a kosher eatery on Queen Anne Road, for several years …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
BETRAYER OF THE BADGE: NJ Officer Admits Using Authority On Duty To Pressure Women Into Sex BETRAYER OF THE BADGE: NJ Officer Admits Using Authority On Duty To Pressure Women Into Sex
Betrayer OF THE Badge: NJ Officer Admits Using Authority On Duty To Pressure Women Into Sex UPDATE: A Vernon Township police officer who was accused of groping a Bergen County woman during a domestic violence call admitted abusing his authority on duty to force women to submit to his sexual advances. Emanuel Rivera, 38, acknowledged the “imbalance of power” between him and the women he was hitting on, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and Acting Sussex County Prosecutor Annmarie Taggart said in a joint statement. This left them unable to consent, he admitted, because of the “coercive, intimidating nature of such requests” coming from a uniformed police officer," the s…

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by Jerry DeMarco