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Professional misconduct

Police & Fire
Sexual Misconduct With Patient Means Revocation Of License For Bergen Physical Therapist: AG Sexual Misconduct With Patient Means Revocation Of License For Bergen Physical Therapist: AG
Sexual Misconduct With Patient Means Revocation Of License For Bergen Physical Therapist: AG The New Jersey State Board of Physical Therapy Examiners has permanently revoked the license of a Bergen County physical therapist who admitted to engaging in sexual relations with one patient and was accused of making inappropriate remarks to another, officials said. Danny O. Steffens, who practiced at facilities in New Milford and Fort Lee, voluntarily surrendered his license following complaints from two female patients, identified in filed documents as Patient #1 and Patient #2, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced Thursday, Dec. 19. Steffens is prohibited from ever reappl…

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
NJ OB-GYN's License Suspended Amid Sexual Abuse Accusations By Two Patients: AG NJ OB-GYN's License Suspended Amid Sexual Abuse Accusations By Two Patients: AG
NJ Ob-gyn's License Suspended Amid Sexual Abuse Accusations By Two Patients: AG A Mercer County OB-GYN had his medical license suspended after he was accused of sexually exploiting two longtime patients during routine exams, authorities said. The state Board of Medical Examiners has temporarily suspended the medical license of Dr. Bruce Pierce, Attorney General Matthew Platkin and the state Division of Consumer Affairs said in a news release on Monday, Dec. 2. Dr. Pierce worked at Delaware Valley OBGYN & Princeton Midwifery in Lawrenceville. His biography was removed from the practice's website as of press time. The doctor's suspension came after tw…

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by Chris Spiker
Police & Fire
License Revoked Of NJ Cardio Doc, 77, Accused Of Fondling Female Patients 51 To 80 Years Old License Revoked Of NJ Cardio Doc, 77, Accused Of Fondling Female Patients 51 To 80 Years Old
License Revoked Of NJ Cardio Doc, 77, Accused Of Fondling Female Patients 51 To 80 Years Old UPDATE: A North Jersey cardiologist who avoided two separate attempts to convict him of fondling and groping female patients had his medical license permanently revoked by the state, authorities announced on Friday. John Strobeck, 77, who had offices in Fair Lawn and Hawthorne, was acquitted in Superior Court in Paterson in 2019 of groping a 50-year-old female patient during an exam five years earlier. Prosecutors were gearing up for a return to the courtroom with several other alleged victims when Strobeck was allowed to enter a pre-trial intervention program that will allow him to clear h…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
NJ Revokes License Of Doctor After Child He Had With Cognitively Impaired Patient Comes Forward NJ Revokes License Of Doctor After Child He Had With Cognitively Impaired Patient Comes Forward
NJ Revokes License Of Doctor After Child He Had With Cognitively Impaired Patient Comes Forward An Essex County physician had sex with a cognitively impaired patient who bore his child in 1986, state authorities said Wednesday in announcing that his license had been revoked. Jashvant Amin became the subject of an investigation after the now-adult son he had with the woman filed a complaint, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said on Aug. 9. The investigation found “uncontroverted evidence” that Amin -- an internist and hematologist with an office in Orange -- had a sexual relationship with the complainant's mother, who was "cognitively impaired by …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
SLEAZEBAG: NJ Case Worker Admits Groping Clients, Sexting Wank Pics, Threatening To Take Kids SLEAZEBAG: NJ Case Worker Admits Groping Clients, Sexting Wank Pics, Threatening To Take Kids
Sleazebag: NJ Case Worker Admits Groping Clients, Sexting Wank Pics, Threatening To Take Kids It’s about as low as someone who works in child welfare services can go. A now-former case worker with the New Jersey Department of Children and Families admitted groping women he was investigating, sending unwanted masturbation pics and threatening to have children taken from those who didn’t go out with him, authorities said on Friday. Gilberto Ortiz Jr., a 53-year-old bilingual family services specialist, told a mom he was investigating that he’d “help her” if she had a relationship with him, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said. Ortiz warned the woman during a home visi…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Prison Guard Charged With Giving Cell Phone To Inmate In Monmouth County Prison Guard Charged With Giving Cell Phone To Inmate In Monmouth County
Prison Guard Charged With Giving Cell Phone To Inmate In Monmouth County A correctional police officer assigned as a guard at the Monmouth County Correctional Institution has been charged with providing a cell phone to an inmate, authorities said. Latonya C. Johnson, 51, of Piscataway is charged with knowingly providing an electronic communication device to an inmate. An investigation led by the MCPO Professional Responsibility & Bias Crime Bureau and assisted by the MCCI Investigations Division revealed that Johnson brought the cell phone into the jail sometime between May and October 2022, when she and the inmate were allegedly eng…

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by Jon Craig
Schools
Mount Olive HS Math Teacher Found Guilty Of Stalking Student For 2 Years Learns His Fate Mount Olive HS Math Teacher Found Guilty Of Stalking Student For 2 Years Learns His Fate
Mount Olive HS Math Teacher Found Guilty Of Stalking Student For 2 Years Learns His Fate The 61-year-old Mount Olive High School math teacher who spent two years stalking a student has learned his fate, authorities announced. Tajinder Tung, of Stewartsville, has been sentenced to 60 days at the Morris County Correctional Facility as a condition of a 3-year probationary term and was ordered to forfeit his public employment, Prosecutor Robert J. Carroll said in a joint release with county officials. Tung stalked a student inside and outside school between 2017 and May 2019, DailyVoice.com reported. A Morris County grand jury added official misconduct charges against Tung in…

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by Valerie Musson
News
Englewood Chiropractor Who Violated Patients Loses License For Good: State Attorney General Englewood Chiropractor Who Violated Patients Loses License For Good: State Attorney General
Englewood Chiropractor Who Violated Patients Loses License For Good: State Attorney General An Englewood chiropractor who inappropriately touched and made sexual comments to female patients has permanently lost his license, state authorities announced. The professional misconduct of Archer Irby, 51, of Leonia was “egregious, depraved, and predatory,” the New Jersey Board of Chiropractic Examiners said in permanently revoking his license. Irby was cleared of criminal charges several years ago, but Administrative Law Judge Thomas R. Betancourt this past April ruled that the doctor had violated four female patients at his Irby Spinal Care office in Englewood by: exposing himself to…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Feds Charge Clifton Doc With Randomly Doling Out Large Doses Of Oxy, Xanax, More Feds Charge Clifton Doc With Randomly Doling Out Large Doses Of Oxy, Xanax, More
Feds Charge Clifton Doc With Randomly Doling Out Large Doses Of Oxy, Xanax, More A Clifton orthopedic surgeon was charged by federal authorities with prescribing high doses of addictive opioid painkillers to patients who abused, sold or otherwise didn't need them. Evangelos Megariotis, 68, prescribed Oxycodone, Xanax, cough syrup with codeine and stimulants “outside the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose,” U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Megariotis, who owned and operated Clifton Orthopedic Associates, already has been banned by the state from ever again practicing medicine or prescribing drugs in New Jersey. State au…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
‘Consent Is Not A Defense’: NJ Revokes Massage Therapist's License For Sexual Healing ‘Consent Is Not A Defense’: NJ Revokes Massage Therapist's License For Sexual Healing
‘Consent Is Not A Defense’: NJ Revokes Massage Therapist's License For Sexual Healing UPDATE: A New Jersey massage therapist acquitted by a jury of sexually assaulting a client still had his license permanently revoked, state authorities announced. Jurors found Asmar R. Berry, 43, of Trenton not guilty in 2019 of sex crimes after his attorney argued that the contact was consensual. Berry nonetheless “violated his duty as a massage therapist” through his actions, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said Wednesday. “Consent is not a defense” when it comes to violating regulations of the massage business, the attorney general said. Bruck said Berry’s actions al…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Jersey Shore Doc Admits Sexual Contact With Drug-Abusing Patient, Cuts Deal With State Jersey Shore Doc Admits Sexual Contact With Drug-Abusing Patient, Cuts Deal With State
Jersey Shore Doc Admits Sexual Contact With Drug-Abusing Patient, Cuts Deal With State A Monmouth County physician is having his license suspended for three years for "inappropriate sexual contact" with a substance-abusing patient for whom he also prescribed addictive drugs, state authorities said. Francis Rienzo, 60, of Sea Girt, is currently "winding down" his private practice as part of an agreement with the state through which he will avoid more serious consequences, they said. Rienzo, who also is the medical director for several treatment centers across New Jersey -- and a staff physician at Jersey Shore Addiction Services and Hackensack Meridian Health in Neptune -- "ad…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Doc Accused Of Reckless, Harmful Breast, Penile Enlargement Injections In NJ, NY, CT, PA Doc Accused Of Reckless, Harmful Breast, Penile Enlargement Injections In NJ, NY, CT, PA
Doc Accused Of Reckless, Harmful Breast, Penile Enlargement Injections In NJ, NY, CT, PA An internist with little formal training has been recklessly injecting a hazardous dermal filler into patients seeking breast and penis enhancements -- often with extremely harmful results -- at dozens of offices in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, authorities charged. Toting the product around in duffle bags, Dr. Muhammad A. Mirza of Cedar Grove has seen up to 30 patients a day in what some described as a “small storage closet” and “closet area with a bench,” Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said Tuesday. Some patients said that Mirza didn't wear a mask…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
NJ Home Health Aide Accused Of Tying Patient, 71, To Chair Loses Certification NJ Home Health Aide Accused Of Tying Patient, 71, To Chair Loses Certification
NJ Home Health Aide Accused Of Tying Patient, 71, To Chair Loses Certification The certification of a home health aide from Pennsylvania accused of tying a 71-year-old dementia patient to a chair at a South Jersey assisted living facility was permanently revoked, authorities announced. A supervising registered nurse at the Juniper Village/Well Springs Assisted Living Facility in Monroe Township discovered the abused victim during a visit to her apartment at last fall, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said. The woman – who had round-the-clock health care -- had been “tied to a chair at the waist with a nightgown,” Bruck said. Afua Dankwah, 51, of Mo…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Clifton Ortho Doc Who State Said Freely Doled Out Opioids Permanently Barred From Practice Clifton Ortho Doc Who State Said Freely Doled Out Opioids Permanently Barred From Practice
Clifton Ortho Doc Who State Said Freely Doled Out Opioids Permanently Barred From Practice UPDATE: A Clifton orthopedic surgeon who prescribed addictive opioid painkillers to patients who abused, sold or otherwise didn't need them was permanently barred from practicing medicine or prescribing drugs in New Jersey, state authorities announced Monday. Evangelos Megariotis – who owned and operated Clifton Orthopedic Associates -- told one patient that "anything that drugs can do on the street, my medications will do better and safer,” state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said. "Just call me,” Grewal quoted him as saying. Megariotis also treated patient complaints of hypertension…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Paramus School Therapist From Washington Township Loses License For Kissing, 'Sexting' Student Paramus School Therapist From Washington Township Loses License For Kissing, 'Sexting' Student
Paramus School Therapist From Washington Township Loses License For Kissing, 'Sexting' Student A Washington Township youth therapist had her license permanently revoked for making out and exchanging suggestive texts with a 17-year-boy she was counseling from a private Paramus High School, authorities said Wednesday. Tara Cardinale, 39, pleaded guilty to criminal sexual contact rather than go to trial following her arrest by members of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Special Victims Unit earlier this year. Cardinale, who worked at the Alliance Academy, agreed to the permanent revocation of her New Jersey license as a clinical social worker as a condition of the plea, Attorney General G…

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by Jerry DeMarco