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Police & Fire
Lehigh Valley Man, 30, Nabbed In Hunterdon County Bank Robbery Lehigh Valley Man, 30, Nabbed In Hunterdon County Bank Robbery
Lehigh Valley Man, 30, Nabbed In Hunterdon County Bank Robbery A Lehigh Valley man has been arrested in connection with the June robbery of TD bank in Hunterdon County, authorities said. Felix E. Gil, 30, was identified as a suspect in the June 30 robbery of TD Bank on Route 22 West in Whitehouse Station, Readington Township Police said Monday. Gil was arrested July 21 after two search warrants carried out at his Allentown home turned up evidence linking him to the robbery, police said. Gil was charged with second-degree robbery, third-degree theft and fourth-degree theft from a person, police said. He was being held at Lehigh County Jail pending ext…

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by Valerie Musson
News
Feds: Sussex Man Admits Spending $5.6M COVID Relief Money On Stock Market, Luxury Vehicle, More Feds: Sussex Man Admits Spending $5.6M COVID Relief Money On Stock Market, Luxury Vehicle, More
Feds: Sussex Man Admits Spending $5.6M COVID Relief Money On Stock Market, Luxury Vehicle, More A Sussex County man who was seized by federal agents as he tried to board a flight to Pakistan admitted fraudulently collecting $5.6 million in federal COVID-19 pandemic business loans that he put to personal use, authorities said. Azhar Sarwar Rana, 30, of Newton, used the money -- designed to keep struggling small businesses afloat during the pandemic – to millions in the stock market, make a payment to a luxury car dealership and send hundreds of thousands of dollars to accounts in Pakistan, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Rana submitted an application for a stimulus loan und…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Feds: Jersey Shore Swindler Embezzled Hundreds Of Thousands From Philly Start-Up Feds: Jersey Shore Swindler Embezzled Hundreds Of Thousands From Philly Start-Up
Feds: Jersey Shore Swindler Embezzled Hundreds Of Thousands From Philly Start-Up A Jersey Shore hustler embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars in investments from a Philadelphia-based tech startup when he was its chief operating officer, federal authorities have charged. Joseph Geromini, 54, of Linwood told investors who contributed roughly $2.25 million that he would use their money to help build the company, which developed blood testing for various diseases, an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Camden alleges. The Atlantic County resident promised to “further develop and commercialize its products and services, for lab expenses, and to pay employee s…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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FBI Called To PA Apartment After DIY Fireworks Go Wrong FBI Called To PA Apartment After DIY Fireworks Go Wrong
FBI Called To PA Apartment After DIY Fireworks Go Wrong A Mechanicsburg man is facing a weapons of mass destruction charge after a failed attempt to make fireworks, say police. Johnathan Park, 33, was arrested after he attempted to make fireworks on his bed in his apartment in 500 block of Geneva Drive, according to police. Upper Allen Township police and fire were called to the apartment complex for reports of a burn victim around 1 a.m. on Wednesday. Upon arrival crews found that Park's bed caught fire while he was attempting to making homemade fireworks. Neighborings in the complex were evacuated. Park's apartment had explosives and explo…

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by Jillian Pikora
News
Final Defendant In Trenton Police Car Firebombing Takes Guilty Plea In Federal Court Final Defendant In Trenton Police Car Firebombing Takes Guilty Plea In Federal Court
Final Defendant In Trenton Police Car Firebombing Takes Guilty Plea In Federal Court A Trenton man admitted in federal court on Wednesday that he threw a makeshift Molotov cocktail into a city police vehicle following a protest last year. Video captured by surveillance cameras and personal cellphones helped authorities identify Kadeem A. Dockery, 29, and one of his co-defendants, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Rather than face trial, Dockery accepted a deal from the government, pleading guilty Wednesday to attempting to obstruct, impede, or interfere with law enforcement officers during a civil disorder. He still faces state charges of throwing another firebom…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
UPDATE: Trenton Suspect Charged In 'Officer-Involved' Shooting With Federal Agents UPDATE: Trenton Suspect Charged In 'Officer-Involved' Shooting With Federal Agents
Update: Trenton Suspect Charged In 'Officer-Involved' Shooting With Federal Agents A 26-year-old man from Trenton has been charged with attempted murder and robbery of a federal agent, authorities said.  According to the affidavit of probable cause, at about 9 p.m. on Monday, agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were engaged in an undercover operation in Hamilton Township. During the operation, two undercover agents were at Krauszer’s Food Store on Greenwood Avenue. During the operation, a black suspect wearing a black mask approached the undercover vehicle after one of the agents exi…

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by Jon Craig
News
Jersey City Jeweler From Clifton Admits Lying To FBI To Protect Customers Jersey City Jeweler From Clifton Admits Lying To FBI To Protect Customers
Jersey City Jeweler From Clifton Admits Lying To FBI To Protect Customers A Jersey City mall jewelry store manager from Clifton admitted lying to the FBI to protect investigative targets who were his customers, authorities said. Khaled Hamade, 60, told a federal judge in Newark via videoconference Tuesday that he lied when he told agents investigating a fraud against a financing company that he didn’t know the suspects. “Hamade denied knowledge of the identities and personal information of numerous customers of his jewelry store who were believed to have engaged in the fraud,” Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. The Lebanese immigrant, who managed the Ne…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
NJ Neo-Nazi Admits Masterminding Nationwide ‘Kristallnacht’ Attack On Blacks, Jews NJ Neo-Nazi Admits Masterminding Nationwide ‘Kristallnacht’ Attack On Blacks, Jews
NJ Neo-Nazi Admits Masterminding Nationwide ‘Kristallnacht’ Attack On Blacks, Jews A New Jersey member of a hardcore neo-Nazi group admitted Friday that he convinced two fellow white supremacists to vandalize property owned by Blacks and Jews. Richard Tobin, 19, of Brooklawn, dubbed the nationwide campaign “Operation Kristallnacht,” after a 1938 pogrom in which German Nazis slaughtered more than 90 Jews and burned their homes, synagogues, stores and schools, Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Rachael A. Honig said. Tobin told a federal judge via video conference Friday that he “implored” two other members of “The Base” to break windows and slash tires, among other destru…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Pedophile Roundup: Feds Bust 15 NJ, PA Men With Child Porn, Trying To Have Sex With Teens Pedophile Roundup: Feds Bust 15 NJ, PA Men With Child Porn, Trying To Have Sex With Teens
Pedophile Roundup: Feds Bust 15 NJ, PA Men With Child Porn, Trying To Have Sex With Teens A youth pastor who manufactured child porn. A 35-year-old man who tried to have sex with a 13-year-old girl. A 40-year-old man who secretly recorded a naked girl, then send out the material. These are only three men of the 15 busted on child porn and other more serious charges, in the second phase of a massive quarantine-driven operation in South Jersey, authorities said (scroll down for a complete rundown of each individual charged). The 15 arrests come are part of "Operation Safe Quarantine II," which ran from August 2020 through January 2021, and fueled by an increase of in threate…

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by Cecilia Levine
News
Ex-AC Mayor Who Spent $86,000 In Youth Sports Donations On Himself Gets 30 Days In Fed Pen Ex-AC Mayor Who Spent $86,000 In Youth Sports Donations On Himself Gets 30 Days In Fed Pen
Ex-AC Mayor Who Spent $86,000 In Youth Sports Donations On Himself Gets 30 Days In Fed Pen UPDATE: Former Atlantic City Mayor Frank Gilliam was sentenced Thursday to a plea-bargained 30 days in federal prison, 11 months of house arrest and 200 hours of community for scamming donors out of $86,000 that he told them was going to a youth basketball team. Frank Gilliam, 49, used the money on fancy clothes, expensive meals, and trips that were “completely unrelated to the operation of a youth basketball team,” Acting U.S. Attorney Rachel A. Honig said. “I stand before this court a fractured human being,” Gilliam told U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez via videoconference in Camde…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Rioter Cops To Torching Trenton Police Cruiser After George Floyd Protest Rioter Cops To Torching Trenton Police Cruiser After George Floyd Protest
Rioter Cops To Torching Trenton Police Cruiser After George Floyd Protest A South Jersey man admitted in federal court Tuesday that he tried to set fire to a police cruiser during a video-recorded riot that broke out following a peaceful protest last spring in Trenton. Killian F. Melecio, 20, of Columbus told a U.S. District Court Judge in Trenton via videoconference that he stuffed a shirt he’d gotten from another man into the gas tank of the vehicle and tried to ignite it last May 31. The protest earlier that day in response to the death of George Floyd had been peaceful, authorities said. Violence later erupted as a mob spread down East State Street, smashing …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Staten Island Man Goes To Fed Pen For Bilking NJ Businesses, Robbing Essex Merchant At Gunpoint Staten Island Man Goes To Fed Pen For Bilking NJ Businesses, Robbing Essex Merchant At Gunpoint
Staten Island Man Goes To Fed Pen For Bilking NJ Businesses, Robbing Essex Merchant At Gunpoint A Staten Island man must spend the next eight years in federal prison for a crime spree in which he defrauded several businesses, stole the identities of three women and robbed a merchant at gunpoint. Raymond Scura, 31, lived the high life at the expense of others, including a Mount Laurel country club and two Marlton merchants who were left with worthless checks and account information stolen from unwitting victims, federal authorities said. He also splurged on limo services, luxury hotels and “exotic” car rentals, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. Things got violent when Scura forced …

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by Jerry DeMarco