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NJ Tax Preparer Gets 5 Years In Fed Pen For $1.6M IRS Scam NJ Tax Preparer Gets 5 Years In Fed Pen For $1.6M IRS Scam
NJ Tax Preparer Gets 5 Years In Fed Pen For $1.6M IRS Scam A twice-convicted tax preparer who helped New Jersey clients scam the IRS out of $1.6 million is headed to federal prison for the next five years. Joseph Kenny Batts, 52, of Elkridge, MD became the third of five men sentenced for preparing bogus tax returns at Tax Pro’s and Tax Solutions & Associates in Essex and Union counties. Batts, who already had a federal tax fraud conviction on his record, was the only one of the group to go to trial. U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp convicted him of conspiracy to defraud the United States, as well as five counts of aiding in preparing fals…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Feds: Elizabeth Dealer Faces Lengthy Prison Stretch For Trafficking Fentanyl Feds: Elizabeth Dealer Faces Lengthy Prison Stretch For Trafficking Fentanyl
Feds: Elizabeth Dealer Faces Lengthy Prison Stretch For Trafficking Fentanyl An Elizabeth man admitted trafficking nearly a pound of fentanyl as part of a criminal enterprise that federal authorities said moved the deadly drug by the kilo. Jhon Rodriguez-Acosta, 34, told a federal judge via teleconference that he and an accomplice went to a 7-Eleven parking lot in Elizabeth on Feb. 13, 2019 to collect payment for the fentanyl, which he’d sold to another co-conspirator. Local authorities arrested Rodriguez-Acosta nearly a year earlier after they said they caught him dealing in Bergen County and elsewhere. SEE: Bergen Detectives Seize 4½ Pounds Of Raw Heroin In Raid …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Dominican National Who Brought 2 Pounds Of Heroin To NJ From NY Gets 34 Months In Fed Pen Dominican National Who Brought 2 Pounds Of Heroin To NJ From NY Gets 34 Months In Fed Pen
Dominican National Who Brought 2 Pounds Of Heroin To NJ From NY Gets 34 Months In Fed Pen A Dominican national who smuggled more than two pounds of heroin from Rockland County into New Jersey was sentenced Thursday in Newark to a plea-bargained 34 months in federal prison. Bienvenido Perez Lazala, 31, who previously admitted his role in moving the drug, must serve the entire sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Federal agents were listening as plans were made for Lazala to collect the heroin in Haverstraw and bring it to New Jersey, where he sold it to a buyer who turned out to be a law enforcement officer, U.S. Craig Carpenito said. In addition to t…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
ATM Skimming Mastermind Who Victimized 4,350 NJ, NY Bank Customers Gets 5 Years In Fed Pen ATM Skimming Mastermind Who Victimized 4,350 NJ, NY Bank Customers Gets 5 Years In Fed Pen
ATM Skimming Mastermind Who Victimized 4,350 NJ, NY Bank Customers Gets 5 Years In Fed Pen The mastermind of an ATM skimming ring that targeted customers at banks in New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts was sentenced Tuesday to five years in federal prison. Bogdan Rusu, 39, a Romanian national living in Howard Beach, Queens will serve the sentence handed down in U.S. District Court in Newark concurrently with a 65-month sentence given to him last June by a federal judge in Massachusetts. Rusu struck plea deals with the government in exchange for leniency in both cases. He'll have to serve the entire terms because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Rusu admitted in…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Former U.S. Navy Member Gets 18 Months In Federal Prison For Trafficking Guns Into NJ Former U.S. Navy Member Gets 18 Months In Federal Prison For Trafficking Guns Into NJ
Former U.S. Navy Member Gets 18 Months In Federal Prison For Trafficking Guns Into NJ A former active-duty member of the U.S. Navy was sentenced Monday to 18 months in federal prison for illegally trafficking guns to a New Jersey couple – including one that ended up being fired on the street hours later. Tesora Amanda Cortes Trejorojas, 24, admitted in federal court in Newark last February that she bought the semi-automatic weapons at a store near her Norfolk, VA home for Azia Sinclair and Shyheim “Shy” Tyson of Newark. She entered the plea in exchange for the more lenient sentence -- all of which she must serve because there's no parole in the federal prison system. The so…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
South Jersey Man Who Threatened To Kill NJ Congressman, Staff Gets 7+ Years In Federal Prison South Jersey Man Who Threatened To Kill NJ Congressman, Staff Gets 7+ Years In Federal Prison
South Jersey Man Who Threatened To Kill NJ Congressman, Staff Gets 7+ Years In Federal Prison A South Jersey combat veteran who the government said threatened a “bloodbath” against former U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo and members of his staff must spend more than seven years in federal prison. Federal jurors in Camden convicted Joseph Brodie, 40, of Millville, last year of making threats to U.S. government officials, officers and employees through a phone call and emails. Brodie, a veteran of both the U.S. Army and U.S. Maine Corps, will have to serve just about all of his sentence because there’s no parole in the federal prison system. Federal prosecutors said Brodie intended to carry …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Fed Pen Awaits: Paterson Man Admits Plan To Sell Nearly 1M Potentially Lethal Fentanyl Doses Fed Pen Awaits: Paterson Man Admits Plan To Sell Nearly 1M Potentially Lethal Fentanyl Doses
Fed Pen Awaits: Paterson Man Admits Plan To Sell Nearly 1M Potentially Lethal Fentanyl Doses A Paterson man is facing a lengthy federal prison term after admitting that he collected a package in Clifton that he thought contained more than two pounds of fentanyl for sale. What Felix Acevedo, 28, didn’t know was that law enforcement officers had intercepted the package and removed the deadly synthetic opioid -- which authorities say is 50 times more potent than heroin and up to 100 times more powerful than morphine. Acevedo could be sent to federal prison for life under federal sentencing guidelines. It won’t be that long but will still be lengthy under the terms of a plea deal …

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by Jerry DeMarco