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Police & Fire
2 Rescued, More Missing In Baltimore's Key Bridge Collapse (UPDATES) 2 Rescued, More Missing In Baltimore's Key Bridge Collapse (UPDATES)
2 Rescued, More Missing In Baltimore's Key Bridge Collapse (Updates) A large-scale search and rescue effort was under way Tuesday morning, March 26 in Baltimore following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Multiple cars were sent into the water below, bringing the Coast Guard and emergency response teams to the scene along Interstate 695 at approximately 1:30 a.m., when a cargo ship struck a portion of the bridge. Two people had been rescued as of 10:20 a.m., according to the Washington Post. At least six other construction workers remain unaccounted for, and another hospitalized, the news agency said. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott decl…

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
Paroled NJ Drug Dealer Admits Trafficking Kilo Of Coke Armed With Trio Of Guns Paroled NJ Drug Dealer Admits Trafficking Kilo Of Coke Armed With Trio Of Guns
Paroled NJ Drug Dealer Admits Trafficking Kilo Of Coke Armed With Trio Of Guns 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: An ex-con from Newark who spent 13 years in state prison will be doing federal time after admitting that he trafficked a kilo of cocaine while packing three guns. Carlos Ovidio Gonzalez, 36, was paroled in March 2022 after serving time for drug dealing and illegal weapons possession convictions out of Morris County in 2009, records show. Gonzalez faces significantly more time now that he's pleaded guilty in federal court to having and conspiring to sell coke and fentanyl and illegally possessing guns and ammo, among other counts. Unlike the state of New Jersey, the federal prison s…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Convicted MS-13 Killer Sentenced In NJ Murder Plot Convicted MS-13 Killer Sentenced In NJ Murder Plot
Convicted MS-13 Killer Sentenced In NJ Murder Plot 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: A member of an MS-13 clique who just began serving 40 years in federal prison for a murder in Virginia was sentenced to 10 years for his role in a failed plot to kill a rival in Hudson County. The plea-bargained sentence approved by a federal judge in Newark on Thursday, March 21, won’t require Jose Gimenez-Lobos, a 33-year-old Salvadoran national, to serve more time. It will run concurrently. Gimenez-Lobos and two companions were ordered by a high-ranking member of La Mara Salvatrucha to execute a member of the rival 18th Street gang from the Maryland/Virginia area, U.S. Attorney …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
$200G Shakedown Of Jersey Shore Dad Gets NYC Man 7 Years In Federal Prison $200G Shakedown Of Jersey Shore Dad Gets NYC Man 7 Years In Federal Prison
$200G Shakedown Of Jersey Shore Dad Gets NYC Man 7 Years In Federal Prison 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: A Brooklyn man who tried strong-arming a Jersey Shore resident into giving him and two accomplices $200,000 was sentenced Thursday to seven years in federal prison. Endrit Kllogjeri, 30, had been convicted of multiple extortion-related counts by U.S. District Court jurors in Trenton last June. A month earlier, co-defendant Francis Garzon pleaded guilty to extortion and conspiracy in connection with the 2019 scheme. Kllogjeri, Garzon and an unidentified co-conspirator tried to shake down the Monmouth County victim and his son, who lived in Brooklyn, with a ruse that they'd been wron…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Bogus Bean Counter Gets 5 Years For $1.5M Scam That Targeted NJ Schools, Nonprofits, More Bogus Bean Counter Gets 5 Years For $1.5M Scam That Targeted NJ Schools, Nonprofits, More
Bogus Bean Counter Gets 5 Years For $1.5M Scam That Targeted NJ Schools, Nonprofits, More 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: A Hoboken woman was sentenced to five years in federal prison for posing as an accountant to steal more than $1.5 million from nonprofits, private schools and religious institutions, among other victims across the state. Yezenia Castillo, 47, will have to serve at least 85% of her sentence -- a few months over four years -- because there's no parole in the federal prison system. From 2012 through 2021, Castillo "falsely claimed to be a CPA who could provide various financial and accounting services to non-profit organizations throughout New Jersey, including private schools and reli…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Thief Who Stole $1.5M Worth Of Luxury Cars In NJ, Rockland, Long Island, CT Gets 3½ Years Thief Who Stole $1.5M Worth Of Luxury Cars In NJ, Rockland, Long Island, CT Gets 3½ Years
Thief Who Stole $1.5M Worth Of Luxury Cars In NJ, Rockland, Long Island, CT Gets 3½ Years 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: The last of four men who admitted stealing more than $1.5 million worth of luxury cars in New Jersey, Rockland County, Long Island and Connecticut was sentenced to nearly 3½ years in federal prison. Malik Baker, 30, of Vauxhall, and his three co-conspirators stashed at least 10 of the vehicles at a central location in Irvington, NJ, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip Sellinger said. The Essex County-based quartet often used one stolen vehicle to swipe another, he added. In one instance, Sellinger said, the crew swiped a Maserati GranTurismo at the Jersey Shore in Manalapan an…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Morris Man Seized By FBI For Scamming Victims Out Of $3.4 Million With 'Debt Relief' Service Morris Man Seized By FBI For Scamming Victims Out Of $3.4 Million With 'Debt Relief' Service
Morris Man Seized By FBI For Scamming Victims Out Of $3.4 Million With 'Debt Relief' Service A restaurant owner who'd fallen $200,000 into the hole during COVID thought he'd gotten a lifeline from a Morris County man who ran a phony debt relief service that promised to reduce what he owed by 40 to 45 percent. Under a contract he was required to sign, the business owner agreed to pay $4,150 every two weeks for two years. It wasn't until he'd already forked over $150,000 that the victim finally got wise to Mark Csantaveri, a 51-year-old Morristown resident with an alleged gambling habit, federal authorities said. It turns out the restaurant owner was one of more than 50 victims…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
UPDATE: Owner Of Counseling Center In Paramus Admits $700,000 Health Care Fraud UPDATE: Owner Of Counseling Center In Paramus Admits $700,000 Health Care Fraud
Update: Owner Of Counseling Center In Paramus Admits $700,000 Health Care Fraud UPDATE: The owner of a counseling and mental health center in Paramus admitted Tuesday that she scammed private insurers out of $700,000 by billing for patients who either were out of the country, had stopped coming or were never there in the first place. Bergen Alliance Counseling Services served children, families, couples, and adults, but Maria P. Cosentino, 60, of Garfield admitted on March 19 in U.S. District Court in Newark that she also took care of herself. Cosentino (photo above) ran the health care fraud scam at Bergen Alliance for 5½ years by "making up visits for counseling and …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Four Caught, One Sought In Brutal Stabbing Death Outside Garfield Bar Four Caught, One Sought In Brutal Stabbing Death Outside Garfield Bar
Four Caught, One Sought In Brutal Stabbing Death Outside Garfield Bar Authorities who’ve charged four men with the brutal murder of a man outside a Garfield bar last month turned to the public for help finding a fugitive gang member from Pennsylvania who sources said repeatedly stabbed the victim in the chest. Ricky “Angel” Vargas, 35, of East Stroudsburg, PA, and his four companions confronted Richard Franceschi, 31, of Hawthorne outside JoJo's Bar & Grill on Monroe Street before dawn this past Feb. 4, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Vargas had a knife and co-defendant Jayson William Rivera, 23, also of East Stroudsburg, had a handgun, the pr…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
'Trail Of Tragedies': Illegal Rifle Empowered Man Who Murdered 3 In PA, New Jersey AG Says 'Trail Of Tragedies': Illegal Rifle Empowered Man Who Murdered 3 In PA, New Jersey AG Says
'Trail Of Tragedies': Illegal Rifle Empowered Man Who Murdered 3 In PA, New Jersey AG Says UPDATE: A killing spree and manhunt in two states this weekend was "the latest in a horrific litany of illustrations of how illegal guns and assault rifles can empower one aggrieved and disturbed actor to do immense damage and leave a trail of tragedies in their wake,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said. Andre Gordon Jr., 26, gunned down his stepmother, his 13-year-old sister and the mother of his two children in separate locations in Falls Township, PA, after carjacking an elderly woman in Trenton to get there, authorities said. The homeless gunman also bludgeoned his girl…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
PA Drug Dealer Federally Indicted For Methamphetamine Sales: USDOJ PA Drug Dealer Federally Indicted For Methamphetamine Sales: USDOJ
PA Drug Dealer Federally Indicted For Methamphetamine Sales: Usdoj A federal grand jury indicted a Luzerne County man on drug trafficking charges this week, according to the US Attorney's Office.  Benjamin Woytas, 34, of Wilkes-Barre Township, is accused of distributing methamphetamine in Luzerne County in August 2023, said USA Gerard Karam in a release.  The maximum penalty for the charges is a 40-year prison term followed by supervised release and a fine, prosecutors said.  In addition to the FBI, the county Drug Task Force investigated the case.  Woytas was charged with drug possession in Hudson County, New Jersey, in 2020.&nb…

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by Mac Bullock
News
Foreign Citizen Who Threatened To Assassinate Joe Biden, Donald Trump Goes To Prison In PA Foreign Citizen Who Threatened To Assassinate Joe Biden, Donald Trump Goes To Prison In PA
Foreign Citizen Who Threatened To Assassinate Joe Biden, Donald Trump Goes To Prison In PA A Somalian man living in Pennsylvania threatened to assassinate President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, and now he's in a Pennsylvania Prison, according to a release by the US Department of Justice on March 15, 2024. Mohamed Farah, 34, who was living in Cumberland County, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Jennifer P. Wilson to three years’ imprisonment on Wednesday, March 13.  Following his release, the Court has also imposed a three-year term of probation.  "The indictment alleges that in January 2022, Farah, who is a citizen of Somalia, threatened to ass…

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by Jillian Pikora