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26°
Thursday, dec 26
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U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig
News
Former Bookkeeper Who Embezzled $1.78M From NJ Steel Company Gets Six Years In Fed Pen
A former bookkeeper who embezzled $1.7 million from the Newark-based steel company she worked for must spend a plea-bargained six years in federal prison. There’s no parole in the federal prison system, which means Tammy L. Martinez, 49, of South Amboy, must serve out just about the entire term. For more than five years, Martinez forged her manager’s signature on bogus checks made out to her or to cash, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. She cashed the checks at area TD Bank branches where the company had an account or dropped the money into a personal account, a complaint on file…
News
Jersey City Man Gets 27 Months In Fed Pen For $450,000 Phony Passport Bank Fraud Scheme
A Jersey City man must spend more than two years in federal prison for his role in a ring that used bogus passports and IRS refund checks to pocket more than $450,000. Mamadou Diallo, 44, also must pay $150,052 in restitution as part his plea deal with the government, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. For 6½ years, beginning in 2012, Diallo admitted, he and others stuck photos of themselves to passports bearing others’ names. They then used the bogus IDs to open bank accounts into which they deposited phony IRS refund checks. They withdrew the funds from ATM and teller termi…
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Gun-Toting Ex-Con Who Tried To Flee Newark PD On Bicycle Sent To Federal Prison
A bicycle-riding ex-con who tossed a gun as he tried to evade pursuing Newark police officers was sentenced Monday to a plea-bargained 32 months in federal prison. Joseph Triplett, 32, of East Orange, was maneuvering his bike around pedestrians on a South 8th Street sidewalk when an officer tried to stop him in September 2019, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Triplett ignored the officer's orders and pedaled off in the opposite direction, Honig said. Officers pursued Triplett, who tossed a fanny pack holding a loaded .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver before he was capture…
News
NJ Man Threatens To 'Blow Out Brains' Of Federal Judge Overseeing His Case, Officials Say
A Newark man was arrested for threatening to kill a federal judge presiding over his civil suit, officials said. Jonathan D. Williams, 46, called the judge's chambers at least twice Monday and told a courtroom deputy that he was going to "put a bullet into the judge's brain," and called him a "scumbag," Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said citing court documents. Then, on Tuesday, Williams showed up to a law firm office in Newark and was denied by two security guards, federal court papers say. Williams pulled down a protective mask he was wearing over his mouth and nose and iden…
News
Middlesex Man Who Torched Trenton Police Car Following Floyd Protest Gets 2 Years In Fed Pen
UPDATE: A Middlesex County man must spend the next two years in federal prison for stuffing a rag into the gas tank of a police cruiser and setting it on fire during a riot in Trenton following a protest last year over the death of George Floyd. Justin Spry, 22, of South Plainfield originally claimed on Twitter that he was brutalized by police, but federal authorities produced surveillance video showing otherwise. Spry and two other men involved in the arson attack took deals from the government rather than go to trial. All must serve out their entire sentences because there's no parole in…
News
Negligent Contractor Ordered To Pay $305,275 Restitution In Death Of Roof Worker In Fair Lawn
UPDATE: A contactor and his firm who'd previously been cited by OSHA for failing to protect employees from falls was formally ordered Thursday to pay $305,275 in restitution to the estate of a roof worker who plunged to his death during a job in Fair Lawn. Trustworthy Roofing and Siding of Newark and its owner, Derico Ferreira, will remain on probation for five years and must follow specific steps as part of a plea deal with the government following the October 2016 tragedy on Vanore Drive, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. The 33-year-old victim fell during the installation of an…
News
Feds: Bean Counter Admits Embezzling Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars From Bergen Tour Company
Only a week after her former manager took a guilty plea in federal court, a Lyndhurst accountant admitted Monday that she helped embezzle hundreds of thousands of dollars from the guided tour company they worked for. Ruby Baroni, 54, took a deal from the government rather than face trial – the same as Estela Laluf, 76, of River Edge, did last Monday, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Between 2010 and 2016, the pair conspired to write checks against the East Rutherford-based company’s bank accounts to cash, Honig said. Checks were also issued to actual company employees and co…
News
Hudson Ex-Con Gets 3½ Years In Fed Pen For Contraband Drone Drops Into Fort Dix Prison
An ex-con from Hudson County is headed back to the big house for using drones to smuggle tobacco, phone chargers and other contraband into the federal prison at Fort Dix following his release. Jason “Juice” Arteaga-Loayza, 30, of Jersey City must serve out just about all of a plea-bargained 3½ years because there’s no parole in the federal prison system. Arteaga-Loayza and three other men had the smuggling operation going for several months before officers at Fort Dix spotted a drone with a dangling fishing line hovering above a housing unit, authorities said. The officers also found a cel…
News
Ridgefield Park Man Gets 15 Months In Fed Pen For Major Mortgage Fraud
A Ridgefield Park man was sentenced Friday to 15 months in federal prison for his role in a scheme to defraud mortgage lenders out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Dennys A. Tapia, 55, took a deal from the government rather than go to trial, pleading guilty to a single count of conspiring to commit bank fraud last December. He'll have to serve out the entire sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Tapia and a number of unnamed co-conspirators produced bogus documents to a loan officer for potential borrowers, including fraudulent lease agreements, bank statement…
News
Phony
FED: Trenton Woman Charged With Impersonating FBI Agent
She wore an empty gun holster on her hip, told Trenton police “I’m FBI" and said she specialized in cyber security at the bureau’s Philadelphia office, authorities said. Police believed her at first. Then she pushed it too far, authorities said. Nealeigh Glasper, 29, of Trenton, now faces charges of impersonating a federal agent. Glasper was a passenger in a car pulled over for having heavily tinted windows – a violation of state law – in a high-crime area of Trenton, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. She introduced herself as “Special Agent Glasper,” “repeatedly told the office…
News
Feds
: Video Shows Newark Gunman, 19, Waving Kids Out Of Way Before Shooting Two Victims
Surveillance video shows a 19-year-old Newark man waving children and others out of the way at a city housing project before pulling a gun from his waistband and shooting two people, federal authorities said. Ramad Moultrie had been convicted and given probation earlier this year for drug possession when he opened fire at the Grace West Manor Complex on Irvine Turner Boulevard on Aug. 2, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. It was the most recent of three drug-related convictions, none of which resulted in prison time, records show. As a result, he was prohibited from having a firea…
News
Feds: Fort Lee Woman Gets 27 Months For Stealing $300,000 From ID Theft Victims
A confessed cybercriminal from Fort Lee was sentenced Monday to 27 months in federal prison for snatching nearly $300,000 from the accounts of ID theft victims, authorities said. Briana Burford was caught using Bitcoin to make the purchases through “carding” sites that traffic in stolen credit card and bank account information, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Rather than risk trial, she took a deal from the government, pleading guilty in U.S. District Court in Newark in November 2019 to wire fraud. Federal authorities didn’t say whether the deal reached with Burford nearly two …
News
Feds: Newark Ex-Con Caught With Gun In Each Pocket, Shotgun On Car Seat, Drugs
An Essex County ex-con wanted for a shooting was carrying two guns – one in each coat pocket – when police captured him, said federal authorities who are handling his prosecution. Newark officers responding to a tip that he was driving a stolen car pulled over city resident Brandon Jacobs, 30, on 6th Street in late January, U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. They found a loaded 9mm Glock handgun loaded with 17 rounds of ammunition in his left coat pocket and Smith & Wesson revolver loaded with six rounds in his right coat pocket, she said. That wasn’t all. Jacobs was also carrying …
News
Jersey Shore Powerboat Racer Admits Faking Disappearance To Avoid Prosecution, US Attorney Says
A professional powerboat racer from Atlantic County has admitted faking his offshore death to avoid bank fraud charges, authorities said. Andrew Biddle, 45, of Egg Harbor Township allegedly disappeared for more than six months in 2014 after staging a sailboat crash, according to a federal indictment. Biddle pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Wednesday, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Biddle admitted that he and a passenger took a boat out of Seavillage Marina in Northfield and traveled across Great Egg Harbor Inlet to a restaurant in Somers Point to have dinne…
News
Hudson Con Man Sent To Federal Prison For Cheating Seniors Out Of $450,000
A Union City financial adviser is headed to federal prison for a plea-bargained 27 months for stealing more than $450,000 from mostly elderly, Spanish-speaking clients. Ramon Herrera, 37, persuaded unwitting more than three dozen clients to sign blank withdrawal slips, which he then filled out to pull cash from their accounts in the form of cashier’s checks, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Herrera then applied the checks to accounts that he and a family member controlled, she said. Herrera took a deal from the government -- pleading guilty to wire fraud -- rather than go to tr…
News
Oxy Doc Who Traded Drugs For Sex From NJ Patients Sent To Federal Prison
UPDATE: A doctor who admitted keeping patients from New Jersey hooked by trading opioids for sex was sentenced to nearly five years in federal prison. Joseph Santiamo, 65, of Staten Island must serve just about all of the 57-month sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Santiamo, who saw several patients from New Jersey, previously admitted “knowingly prescribed dangerous quantities of oxycodone – and, even more egregiously, solicited sexual favors from certain patients” in exchange for writing them additional opioid scripts, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig sa…
News
NJ Feds: Business Owner Admits Selling Erectile Dysfunction Drug As Herbal Supplement
A business owner told a federal judge in Newark that he sold men’s herbal supplements nationwide that were spiked with the prescription ingredient in Viagra. Robert Zeng, 55, of Salt Lake City, Utah sold purported natural supplements online and through e-commerce sites under the brand NutopiaUSA, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. In late February, he used three imported kilos of sildenafil to manufacture an unapproved and misbranded drug he called “Mr. Richard Rocks,” she said. Zeng “falsely marketed and labeled ‘Mr. Richard Rocks’ as a dietary supplement containing only natural …
News
Feds: Sussex Scammer Used Dead People’s Names To Collect $1.9M In COVID Relief
A Sussex County scammer identified people who’d been dead for years as business partners to help collect $1.9 million from the federal fund established to help struggling companies during COVID-19, authorities charged. John Jhong, 51, of Sparta, also submitted phony IRS documents with bogus Paycheck Protection Program applications to the lenders on behalf of 10 purported businesses, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Jhong converted a portion of the money intended for distressed businesses into a cashier’s check “that was used to fund a business account,” Honig said. Congress a ye…