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Elizabeth Man Admits Bribing Postal Carriers To Steal Checkbooks, Credit Cards From Mail Elizabeth Man Admits Bribing Postal Carriers To Steal Checkbooks, Credit Cards From Mail
Elizabeth Man Admits Bribing Postal Carriers To Steal Checkbooks, Credit Cards From Mail A Union County man admitted Wednesday that he offered bribes to postal workers to steal check books and credit cards from the mail, federal authorities said. U.S. Postal Inspection Service agents watched as Jabre “Jab” Beauvoir, 22, of Elizabeth met with a carrier in a mail van in Secaucus and collected a package that they’d planted, a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Newark says. Beauvoir – using the handle “Neck Tat” -- believed he was getting a stolen iPhone 6 Plus, it says. The carrier told them that Beauvoir had offered $20O for every stolen check book and a split of the proc…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Contractor Charged With Sexually Assaulting Pre-Teen In Bergen, Passaic Over Several Years Contractor Charged With Sexually Assaulting Pre-Teen In Bergen, Passaic Over Several Years
Contractor Charged With Sexually Assaulting Pre-Teen In Bergen, Passaic Over Several Years A Paterson contractor was charged with sexually assaulting a pre-teen in Bergen and Passaic counties over the course of five years and then trying to bribe a witness when investigators caught on to him. Milton Carchipulla, a 39-year-old self-employed general contractor, remained held Monday in the Bergen County Jail for a series of alleged assaults that date back to 2012. Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said detectives from his Special Victims Unit began investigating Carchipulla after receiving a report in January that he’d “engaged in sexual activity with a child under the age of si…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Prosecutor: Clifton Man Tried To Get Kidnap Victim To Drop Charges Against Instagram Influencer Prosecutor: Clifton Man Tried To Get Kidnap Victim To Drop Charges Against Instagram Influencer
Prosecutor: Clifton Man Tried To Get Kidnap Victim To Drop Charges Against Instagram Influencer A Clifton businessman tried to bribe a kidnapping victim into dropping charges against Bergen County-based Instagram influencer “Jay Mazini,” authorities charged. Bassam Patrick Aljanadi, 56, “contacted the victim and his family on numerous occasions,” Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said Thursday afternoon. Aljanadi, who owns a heating and air conditioning company, offered the victim cash in exchange for dropping kidnapping charges filed against Jebara Igbara, the prosecutor said. He did this to “try and obstruct and/or impede the investigation and prosecution of Igbara,” Musella sa…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Feds: Ex-Con At Morris County Pharmacy Bribed Doc For Prescription Referrals Feds: Ex-Con At Morris County Pharmacy Bribed Doc For Prescription Referrals
Feds: Ex-Con At Morris County Pharmacy Bribed Doc For Prescription Referrals A convicted former Morris County pharmacy employee who lives in Passaic County got prescription referrals by having co-workers deliver bribes in cash, checks and gift cards to a Jersey City doctor, authorities said in bringing a new case against him. Federal agents arrested Srinivasa Raju, 49, of Haskell following an investigation that involved a secret recording -- the same as in a previous case. Raju, formerly of Clifton, had finished serving three years probation following a 2016 conviction for distributing oxycodone without prescriptions. Raju was caught running what state prosecutors …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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NJ: Indictments In ‘Old School’ Corruption Sting Name Ex-Officials, Political Candidates NJ: Indictments In ‘Old School’ Corruption Sting Name Ex-Officials, Political Candidates
NJ: Indictments In ‘Old School’ Corruption Sting Name Ex-Officials, Political Candidates Indictments were returned against four former New Jersey public officials and political candidates accused of taking bribes in a major corruption probe in Hudson and Morris counties, authorities announced Tuesday. Former Jersey City School Board President Sudhan Thomas, former state Assemblyman and Bayonne mayoral candidate Jason O’Donnell, former Morris County Freeholder John Cesaro and former Mount Arlington Council Member John Windish are charged in separate indictments with pocketing thousands of dollars in bribes from a campaign contributor. A fifth defendant, former Morris County free…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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All For $20,000: New Brunswick Meter Reader Who Took Bribes To Cut Bills Gets 5 Years In Prison All For $20,000: New Brunswick Meter Reader Who Took Bribes To Cut Bills Gets 5 Years In Prison
All For $20,000: New Brunswick Meter Reader Who Took Bribes To Cut Bills Gets 5 Years In Prison A former New Brunswick Water Department meter reader who took payoffs to help reduce customers’ water bills by as much as 90% was sentenced Friday to five years in state prison. Guillermo Quinones, 51, of Somerset joins two former co-workers who also got five-year state prison terms: Joseph DeBonis, a 58-year-old former senior account clerk from Toms River, and William Ortiz, 59, of North Brunswick, a former meter reader. Their scheme “cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars,” said Thomas Eicher, director of the state Office of Public Integrity and Accountability. Ten residents accu…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Mayors Rejected Bribe Attempts By Fired Bergen Sheriff's Department Head, Report Says Mayors Rejected Bribe Attempts By Fired Bergen Sheriff's Department Head, Report Says
Mayors Rejected Bribe Attempts By Fired Bergen Sheriff's Department Head, Report Says UPDATE: A department head who was fired from the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office picked the wrong guys when he tried bribing one former and one current North Jersey mayor, according to a published report. Omid Bayati, 39, was charged with trying to bribe a senior official at the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission to advance his career after taking a job there, state authorities announced Wednesday. Former Fair Lawn Mayor John Cosgrove, who was appointed to the commission in 2019, later told New Jersey Globe that he was the official. SEE: Official wears wire after sewerage commissioners…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Passaic Sewerage Commission Employee From Bergen Charged With Bribing Senior Official Passaic Sewerage Commission Employee From Bergen Charged With Bribing Senior Official
Passaic Sewerage Commission Employee From Bergen Charged With Bribing Senior Official UPDATE: A department head who was fired from the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office picked the wrong guys when he tried bribing one former and one current North Jersey mayor, according to a published report. Omid Bayati, 39, was charged with trying to bribe a senior official at the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission to advance his career after taking a job there, state authorities announced Wednesday. Former Fair Lawn Mayor John Cosgrove, who was appointed to the commission in 2019, later told New Jersey Globe that he was the official. SEE: Official wears wire after sewerage commissioners repo…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Bergen Businessman Admits Paying $100,000 Bribe To Korean Official For Defense Contracts Bergen Businessman Admits Paying $100,000 Bribe To Korean Official For Defense Contracts
Bergen Businessman Admits Paying $100,000 Bribe To Korean Official For Defense Contracts A Bergen County businessman admitted Thursday that he bribed a high-ranking Korean defense official to get and keep defense contracts with the country. Deck Won Kang, 50, a U.S. citizen from Englewood Cliffs, was an officer, director, employee, and agent of two closely held New Jersey companies when he promised “something of value” to a high-ranking official in the Korean Navy when he left office. The official had worked for a state-owned and -controlled agency within the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of National Defense, federal authorities said. FBI agents arrested Kang after he sent $10…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Brick City Backhander: Feds Charge Newark Councilman With Taking Payoffs For Influence Brick City Backhander: Feds Charge Newark Councilman With Taking Payoffs For Influence
Brick City Backhander: Feds Charge Newark Councilman With Taking Payoffs For Influence Federal agents caught a sitting Newark City Council member pocketing payoffs in exchange for influence, authorities said Tuesday. West Ward Councilman Joseph A. McCallum Jr., 65, was charged with soliciting and collecting bribes and kickbacks at the same time that a consultant from the city, 60-year-old Malik Frederick, was pleading guilty to his role in the scheme, they said. McCallum “schemed to receive concealed bribes and kickbacks from Frederick, funded by developers, contracting companies, and other businesses seeking contracts and approvals principally related to development, constru…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Consultant Admits Bribing Former NJ Assemblyman Consultant Admits Bribing Former NJ Assemblyman
Consultant Admits Bribing Former NJ Assemblyman A computer consultant admitted in federal court Wednesday that he bribed a former New Jersey state assemblyman currently under indictment in connection with a series of kickback schemes. Jeanmarie Zahore, 56, of Rahway told a U.S. District Court judge in Newark via teleconference that he made the corrupt payments when Willis Edwards III was the acting business administrator for the city of Orange. Zahore received a $350,000 contract without competitive bidding from the Orange City Council in September 2015 for JZ Nettech, a computer consulting business that he operated from his home, U.S. A…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Lawyer Charged In Lucrative Hudson, Morris Political Bribery Scheme Lawyer Charged In Lucrative Hudson, Morris Political Bribery Scheme
Lawyer Charged In Lucrative Hudson, Morris Political Bribery Scheme State authorities busted a Morristown lawyer as part of a major political corruption case that has already produced charges against public officials and political candidates from Hudson and Morris counties. Elizabeth Valandingham, 47, prepared and submitted proposals for the law firm where she worked to the township of Bloomfield for legal services between 2012 and 2016 in which she said the company hadn’t made any political contributions, state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said. She was lying, he said. “Each year for which Valandingham indicated no reportable political contributions,…

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by Jerry DeMarco