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37°
Tuesday, dec 24
Tag:
US Attorney
News
Greek Shipping Firms Fined Millions for Polluting NJ Waters, Falsifying Records
Two Greek shipping companies were fined millions in federal court in Newark on Monday, Dec. 23 after pleading guilty to polluting waters, falsifying records, and obstructing justice during port calls in New Jersey last year, authorities said. Avin International Ltd. and Kriti Ruby Special Maritime Enterprises, owners and operators of the oil tanker Kriti Ruby, will pay $4.6 million in fines and community service payments, US Attorney Philip Sellinger said. They were also placed on probation for five years with mandatory environmental compliance monitoring, Sellinger said The companies illeg…
Police & Fire
Feds Dismantle Luxury Interstate Car Ring, 7 NJ Men Charged
Eight men, including seven from New Jersey, have been charged in Newark federal court on Thursday, Nov. 7, for their roles in a conspiracy to steal luxury cars and transport them across state lines, authorities said. Arrested were: Ahmad Franks, 24, Shaquan White, 23, Nathan Braswell, 20, Ibn Bellamy, 24, Zamir Wright, 20, all Newark residents, Ryan Bowen, 26, Khyree Lawrence, 20 both East Orange residents and Mohammed Buhari, a 45-year-old Virginia resident. Federal officials detailed the thefts: Audi Q5, Jersey City: On Nov. 5, 2021, a 2021 Audi Q5 was reported stolen in Jersey City…
Politics
'I'll Give You The Steel Bat:' NJ Man Sent Death Threats To Political Commentator, Feds Say
A 45-year-old Morris County man has been arrested and charged after posting an online death threat at a political commentator, authorities said. Last month, Haim Braverman, of Morris Plains, posted a video of himself on a social media platform in which he made various threats to a political commentator who had publicly commented on a prominent, now-deceased rabbi, US Attorney Philip Sellinger said. In the video, Braverman threatened to use a bat against the commentator, stating: “You’ll get what’s coming to you . . . , I’ve never met someone . . . if I could [expletive] kill you right…
Police & Fire
Sussex County Man Gets 12+ Years For Dealing Meth: Feds
A 54-year-old Byram Township man was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison, 146 months, on Friday, Sept. 20, after admitting to his role in trafficking methamphetamine, authorities said. In January 2022, law enforcement began investigation Steven Kristiansen after learning he was a member of a drug trafficking organization that distributed methamphetamine, US Attorney Phillip Sellinger said. Over the course of four days, Kristiansen sold over 60 grams of methamphetamine to an undercover police officer, Sellinger said. On Jan. 25, 2022, police searched Kristiansen's residence and car and…
News
NJ Real Estate Developer Fred Daibes Pleads Guilty To Bank Fraud
Fred Daibes, a 67-year-old real estate developer previously convicted of bribing disgraced New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, pleaded guilty to bank fraud on Thursday, Sept, 5, authorities said. The former CEO and chairman of the board of directors at Mariner's Bank pleaded guilty in Newark federal court to making false entries in connection with a $1.8 million loan from his bank in 2008, US Attorney Phillip Sellinger said. Daibes said the line of credit was for someone else, when it was actually for his benefit, Sellinger said. The loan said the source of repayment would be from the p…
News
Ex-Deputy Mayor Of Newark Admits Taking $25K Bribe In Restaurant Bathroom: Feds
Carmelo Garcia, who previously served as deputy mayor of Newark and one term in the state General Assembly, admitted to taking $25,000 in bribes, federal authorities said. Garcia, 49, pleaded guilty to conspiring with two Newark business owners to obtain corrupt payments intended to influence and reward him for assisting them with the acquisition and redevelopment of various city-owned properties while serving on the Newark Department Economic and Housing Development, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger said. Between 2017 and 2019, Garcia sought and received significant mone…
News
NJ Amtrak Employee Lied To Feds Investigating Sleeper Car Sex Assault, DOJ Says
An Amtrak employee from New Jersey has been charged in a federal indictment for lying to federal investigators questioning him about a sexual assault he allegedly carried out on a passenger during a trip from Washington DC to Chicago, authorities said. Maurice Driver, 35, of Gloucester City, NJ, was charged with lying to a federal agent in a five-count indictment unsealed on Tuesday, June 4, U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Special Agent in Charge Mike Waters of the Amtrak Office of Inspector General Eastern Area Field Office announced. Driver had been working as a lead service atte…
Police & Fire
'Reckless' NJ Doc Sentenced For Defrauding Amtrak Out of $1.3 Million: Feds
A 51-year-old Cedar Grove doctor was sentenced to 26 months in prison on Tuesday, May 7, for participating in a five-year health care fraud scheme to defraud Amtrack Muhammad Mirza had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud, US Attorney Philip Sellinger said. In 2021, Mirza was accused of 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, as previously reported by Daily Voice. From April…
Police & Fire
Jersey Shore Man Admits Anti-Semitic Rampage: Running Down Victims, Stabbing, Carjacking
A Jersey Shore man admitted in federal court on Thursday that he committed a series of violent assaults on members of the Jewish Orthodox community in and around Lakewood. What became a rampage over roughly seven hours began when Dion Marsh, 29, of Manchester, dragged a "visibly identifiable" Orthodox Jew out of his car, beat him and sped off in the victim's vehicle on April 8, 2022, authorities said. Marsh was driving a different car in the heavily Orthodox community hours later when he ran down victims in three separate incidents, attempting to kill each of them, U.S. Attorney for New Jer…
Police & Fire
Update
: Newark Woman, 21, Cops Plea In Robbery, Shooting Spree
A 21-year-old Newark woman hoping to avoid an extended federal prison sentence admitted participating in a violent robbery spree in Jersey City last month in which a fast-food clerk was shot in the chest. Siobhan Chandler, was with ex-con Rodney Williams when he robbed a gas station and store at gunpoint and then shot a restaurant clerk during a third holdup the night of Nov. 14. Police captured both of them after Williams, 31, crashed the getaway car during a pursuit a little over an hour after the spree began. Chandler immediately took a pre-indictment deal from the government in exchang…
Police & Fire
Social Security Recipient's Death Not Reported, Bank Worker From Passaic Pockets $100,000: Feds
A Passaic man who worked at a bank in Nutley stole more than $100,000 worth of Social Security benefits from the government in the name of a deceased customer, federal authorities charged. The Social Security Administration wasn’t notified of the beneficiary’s death and continued depositing benefits at the commercial bank for more than four years, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said on Wednesday, Dec. 13. Bank employee Jorge Nova, 35, issued debit cards to himself in the beneficiary’s name that he used to drain the account, Sellinger said. Nova also “registered new accounts with a money…
Police & Fire
Former South Jersey Nurse Admits Collecting Porn Of Children As Young As 12
An Atlantic County man admitted collecting child porn videos and still images, some involving sadistic or masochistic violence against victims as young as 12, federal authorities said. Special agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Newark caught Anthony Barbarino, 37, with 108 videos and 93 still photographs of child sexual abuse across three electronic devices, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. At least one image was of a prepubescent minor, while another "portrayed sadistic or masochistic conduct or other depictions of violence," Sellinger said. Barbarino, who live…
Police & Fire
Feds Bust Bergen Doc For Prescribing Tens Of Thousands Of Oxy Pills For Fake Patients
A doctor from Hillsdale was arrested by federal agents for prescribing oxycodone for illegal use from her Paterson office, authorities said. Phony patients for whom Lisa Ferraro, 65, wrote scripts included two people who were locked up, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. They were among several “patients” who Sellinger said were “never physically examined or questioned about symptoms to determine whether there was a legitimate medical need for oxycodone.” Ferraro typically wrote prescriptions for 90 pills of 30mg of oxycodone per "patient," the U.S. attorney said. They were “typicall…
Police & Fire
Repeat Child Porn Trafficker From NJ, 65, Gets 10 More Years Without Parole: Feds
A 65-year-old convicted child porn trafficker from New Jersey is headed to federal prison for 10 years without parole for going back to it while on supervised release. Hugh Cohen, 65, of Elizabeth, served nearly all of a five-year federal prison sentence for possessing and receiving child pornography in 2010. Supervised release, which was a requirement of his sentence, was to run from the end of October 2014 to the end of October 2021, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. While still on supervised release, from March 28, 2021, to April 24, 2021, Cohen “engaged an undercover agent in an …
Police & Fire
Hudsonite Who Got Mail-Order Fentanyl From Mexico Gets Two Years, No Parole, In Federal Prison
A Hudson County man who had mail-order fentanyl from Mexico shipped to his home was sentenced Thursday to a month short of two years in federal prison. Miguel Polanco, 31, must serve out just about all of the 23-month plea-bargained sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Polanco became the focus of an investigation after U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents intercepted the package from Mexico City on its way to his Union City apartment, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger previously said. Polanco had watched a how-to video sent to him by a conspirator on h…
Police & Fire
NJ Auto Shop Owner Who Stiffed IRS To Wager On Horses Headed To Prison, But Not Furlong
A New Jersey auto repair shop owner who gambled on horse races has to serve a year and a day in federal prison for not ponying up to the IRS, authorities said. Gabriel Ferrari, who was the president and CEO of Buses and Trucks in Linden, tapped his business account for bets at the track, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Ferrari, of Edison, stiffed the government $291,600 in taxes from a cash payroll and didn’t tell his return preparer, the U.S. attorney said. Ferrari took a deal from federal prosecutors rather than risk the potential consequences of a guilty verdict at a trial. He’l…
Police & Fire
Ex-Hudson Sheriff's Officer Admits $98,000 Short-Sale Mortgage Scheme For Jersey Shore Home
A former Hudson County sheriff’s officer admitted defrauding a bank to duck $98,000 in mortgage payments on a Jersey Shore home, federal authorities said. Osbado Hernandez, 54, of Avenel, conspired with others to lie about a bogus short sale of his house in Keansburg so that the unidentified bank would discharge what was left on his mortgage, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Hernandez bought the property for $239,900 in 2006, financing it through a mortgage loan from the victimized bank, a complaint on file in U.S. District Court in Trenton says. He ended up behind on the payments,…
Police & Fire
Murder-For-Hire: NJ Man Get 8 Years, No Parole, For Hiring 'Hit Man' To Whack Ex And Daughter
A 69-year-old New Jersey man must spend the next eight years in federal prison for paying a purported hit man to kill his ex-wife and her daughter. Michael Stewart of Monroe Township in Middlesex County must serve nearly the entire plea-bargained sentence handed down this week because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Stewart thought he had someone he could trust when he asked for help finding someone he could pay for the killings. He "regularly traveled to Baltimore and used a cellphone while out of state to communicate with the confidential source and others," U.S. Attorney…
News
Gang
WAR: Brick City Teen Seized In Modified Machine-Gun Shooting Of Rival Trio
A 19-year-old reputed Newark street gang member wanted for shooting three rivals with a modified machine gun last weekend is in federal custody. Munir “Mu” Muhammad was carrying the converted 9mm handgun when he was arrested on Wednesday, April 12, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger said. The gun had fired 28 rounds in the April 8 shooting at the Oscar Miles Housing Complex and was fitted with an extended magazine loaded with another 30, Sellinger said Thursday. Three opponents were wounded, one critically, in what the U.S. attorney said is part of a bloody ongoing gun battle between rivals on…
Police & Fire
NJ Teacher, Coach Admits Posing As Woman To Get Children To Send Sexual Photos, Videos: Feds
A New Jersey elementary teacher and soccer coach admitted to posing as a woman to get children to send sexual content, federal authorities confirmed. Steven Brooks, 36, of Morristown, pleaded guilty to production of child pornography and possession of child pornography, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said in a Thursday, April 6 release. Brooks, who taught at Washington Elementary School in Summit and helped run the Livingston Soccer Club, used a fake online profile to get underage boys to send him videos and photos, Daily Voice reported in 2021. According to court documents, Brooks…
Police & Fire
Fake Accountant Admits Stealing $1.5 Million In Scam That Targeted NJ Schools, Nonprofits: Feds
A Hudson County woman admitted to stealing more than $1.5 million from non-profits, private schools and religious institutions throughout New Jersey by pretending to be an accountant. Yezenia Castillo, a 46-year-old Hoboken resident, pleaded guilty on Thursday, April 6 to one count of wire fraud and one count of tax evasion in U.S. District Court in Newark, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger announced. For nine years, Castillo falsely claimed to be an accountant, offering her serves to non-profits throughout the state, Sellinger said. Upon being hired, Castillo would charge…
News
Convicted NJ Sex Offender Charged With Trafficking Child Porn
A retired Marine from South Jersey who'd previously been convicted of having sex with an underage Pennsylvania girl was arrested by federal agents on child porn charges, authorities said. A U.S. District Court judge in Camden released Matthew Knapp, 38, of Lindenwold, on an unsecured bond following his arrest by Homeland Security Investigations agents last week, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced on Monday, Feb. 27. The agents found Knapp sharing the images from his home, the U.S. attorney said. A warranted search of the residence produced the seizure of, among other things, “a co…
News
Update
: Hudson Real Estate Agent Admits Grooming Girls, 15, To Send Him Homemade Porn
A Hudson County real estate agent admitted in federal court that he groomed two 15-year-old girls to create and send him porn photos and videos of themselves, authorities said. Erick Solis, 25, of Weehawken "used a social media application to engage with two underage victims in sexually explicit conversations," U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said following a plea hearing in Newark. He then "instructed both victims to take sexually explicit photographs and videos of themselves and send them to him," Sellinger said. “What will your friend friends/teachers think if I picked you up from sch…
News
Climate
OF FEAR: Jersey Doc Admits Harboring Indian Nationals As Unpaid Domestics
A Jersey Shore doctor must pay $642,212 to two undocumented women from India whose true identities she hid for eight years while harboring them as unpaid domestics, federal authorities said. Harsha Sahni, 66, of Tinton Falls, also must cover $200,000 worth of treatment of a brain aneurysm that one of the women suffered while they worked in her and her family's homes, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Federal prosecutors required the payments as part of a plea deal that allowed Sahni to avoid the potential consequences of a conviction at a trial, the U.S. attorney said. In exchange, S…
Police & Fire
Carload Of Fool's Gold Sinks Jersey City DEA Imposter's Plan For Riches: Feds
When a Massachusetts woman contacted federal authorities to report a man claiming to be one of them and asking for $330,000 in gold bars, they came up with a plan that would turn the tables and ultimately land the Jersey City imposter in police custody. The undercover agents set up a meeting with 38-year-old Gaurang Contractor in a Texas Roadhouse parking lot, and promised told two buckets of gold waiting for him inside a car's trunk. The gold was as real as his DEA badge. Investigators said Contractor contacted the woman in August and claimed to be a DEA agent named Oscar White, autho…
News
Plea
Deal
: 10 Years, No Parole, Awaits Philly Dealer Who Slung Meth In NJ
UPDATE: A plea deal is sending a Philadelphia drug dealer who slung meth in New Jersey to federal prison for 10 years without parole, authorities said. Nasir White, 30, took the deal, pleading guilty to drug conspiracy, rather than risk the consequences of being convicted at a trial. He must serve out the entire sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. A fellow dealer, Shawn McGuriman, took the same deal and was sentenced in August 2021 to a decade behind bars, as well, authorities said. White and McGuriman had a half-pound of meth that they'd agreed to sell to anot…
News
Feds: NY Ex-Con Who Tried To Get Loaded Gun By Newark Airport Security Gets 3 Years, No Parole
An ex-con from New York must spend the next three years in federal prison, with no parole, for trying to slip a loaded, stolen gun and lots of ammunition past a security checkpoint at Newark Airport. Desmond Herring, 48, of Newburgh made a beeline for his gate when a TSA officer staffing the checkpoint X-ray monitor found the loaded weapon -- along with boxes of ammo -- in his carry-on bag on Nov. 29, 2021, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said. Port Authority police collected the bag and examined its contents, the TSA said at the time. Along with the 9mm pistol were 10 rou…
News
Passaic County Man Admits Laundering More Than $2.8 Million For International Drug Cartels
UPDATE: A Passaic County man admitted laundering more than $2.8 million in drug cash for international cartels operating in New Jersey and New York, authorities announced. Enmanuel Nunez-Reyes, 29, of Paterson became the fifth of six county residents charged in the case to take a deal from the government rather than face trial. Nunez-Reyes told a federal judge in Newark via videoconference that he accepted more than $2.8 million in cash and bought more than 100 cashier’s checks at local bank branches in New Jersey and elsewhere, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. It was all "part of …
News
Bean Counter Who Embezzled Hundreds Of Thousands From Bergen Tour Company Sentenced
An accountant from Lyndhurst was sentenced to a plea-bargained 21 months in federal prison for her role in embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from a guided tour company she worked for. Ruby Baroni, 55, took a deal from the government rather than face trial – the same as her former manager, Estela Laluf, 76, of River Edge. Laluf was sentenced in April to an agreed-upon 27 months in federal prison. U.S. District Judge Julien Xavier Neals sentenced Baroni on Thursday to two years of supervised release and ordered her to pay $295,297 in restitution. Between 2010 and 2016, she and Lal…
News
Federal Judge Fines Mahwah Company $67,668 For Jacking Up Price Of N95 Masks By 400%
A Mahwah-based company that admitted selling N95 protective masks at a 400% markup to a grocery store chain at the beginning of the pandemic was fined $67,668 by a federal judge. TSC Agency LLC -- a logistics and freight forwarding company located off southbound Route 17 near the State Line Diner -- will also remain on probation for a year under the terms of a plea deal with the government, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said on Tuesday, April 26. TSC and two partners bought 250,000 of the filtering facepiece respirators at $1.09 apiece mask from a foreign manufacturer in mid-March 2020…
News
NJ
Feds
: Miracle-Aspirin Investment Scam Sends Long Island Man To Prison For 4½ Years
A Long Island man must spend the next 4½ years in prison for scamming investors out of $3.5 million through what he claimed was a revolutionary new aspirin, federal authorities in New Jersey said. Donald A. Milne III, a 57-year-old repeat offender from Massapequa, defrauded more than 70 victims from throughout the country, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. All thought they'd invested in what he touted as a “fast-acting form of powdered aspirin that could instantly stop heart attacks and strokes," Sellinger said. Milne used the money instead for a Caribbean vacation, boating expe…
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