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Police & Fire
Suspended NJ Police Chief Indicted As Sexual Predator, New Charges Added: State AG Suspended NJ Police Chief Indicted As Sexual Predator, New Charges Added: State AG
Suspended NJ Police Chief Indicted As Sexual Predator, New Charges Added: State AG A local New Jersey police chief who’d already been charged with sexually preying on women is facing new allegations, the state’s top cop announced on Tuesday. Following his suspension amid sexual assault allegations, Manville Police Chief Thomas Herbst wrongfully held onto his badge, then displayed it as if was still on active duty to a police officer who’d pulled him over late this past January, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said. The charge was contained in an eight-count indictment returned by a state grand jury that focused mostly on what the attorney general called “sexually pred…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Arsonist Targeted Jewish Residents In Fiery Anti-Semitic Rampage Across Jersey Shore Town: AG Arsonist Targeted Jewish Residents In Fiery Anti-Semitic Rampage Across Jersey Shore Town: AG
Arsonist Targeted Jewish Residents In Fiery Anti-Semitic Rampage Across Jersey Shore Town: AG A 34-year-old Jersey Shore man accused of spray-painting swastikas on several structures and causing a fire that gutted a house earlier this week was being held in a medical facility, authorities said. Ron Carr, 34, of Manchester, scrawled Nazi symbolism on more than a dozen homes, residential fences and elsewhere, targeting Jewish residents in the early hours of Wednesday, June 7, according to Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer. Carr damaged more than a dozen homes, and used an accelerant to set a fire that destroyed a house in the township…

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by Jon Craig
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
Five From NJ Admit Pocketing $1.3M In Aircraft Equipment Scam Five From NJ Admit Pocketing $1.3M In Aircraft Equipment Scam
Five From NJ Admit Pocketing $1.3M In Aircraft Equipment Scam A crew of con artists from New Jersey admitted swindling more than $1.3 million from hundreds of businesses nationwide and abroad that thought they were buying specialized aviation equipment. The head of the operation, Antonio P. Signo, 36, of Somerset – aka "Tony Demetro" – had been the first to take a deal from prosecutors rather than face the potential consequences of a trial. The onetime fugitive pleaded guilty last August -- with no public notice from authorities – to a single count of theft by deception, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin revealed on Thursday, May 25. The…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
$1.65M Worth Of Heroin, Coke, Crystal Meth Seized, Target Busted In Pair Of Paterson Raids $1.65M Worth Of Heroin, Coke, Crystal Meth Seized, Target Busted In Pair Of Paterson Raids
$1.65M Worth Of Heroin, Coke, Crystal Meth Seized, Target Busted In Pair Of Paterson Raids State, county and local authorities smashed a major drug mill, seizing $1.65 million worth of heroin, cocaine and crystal meth in a pair of quick-strike raids at Paterson locations only blocks apart. Felix Rodriguez, 40, was running the drug mill from an apartment on East 26th Street when authorities came calling, a group of law enforcement officials led by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said. Tactical officers with the State Police and Passaic County Sheriff’s SWAT team simultaneously hit that location and Rodriguez’s 28th Street apartment, the attorney general said. Altog…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Montclair State Junior Who Collected Child Porn Got Kids To Send Sex Vids, Authorities Charge Montclair State Junior Who Collected Child Porn Got Kids To Send Sex Vids, Authorities Charge
Montclair State Junior Who Collected Child Porn Got Kids To Send Sex Vids, Authorities Charge Investigators who arrested a student at Montclair State University for collecting child porn made a frightening discovery after raiding his dorm room, authorities said. The MSU junior from Burlington County had contacted underage children online using a bogus identity, then engaged them in sexually explicit chats – and even had some send him videos of them pleasuring themselves, they said. Keyon Luff, 21, of Edgewater Park, was arrested by state Division of Criminal Justice detectives assisted by Montclair State police during a raid of his on-campus dorm room last week, New Jersey Attorney …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
26 Pounds Of Fentanyl Seized In Passaic: Twin North Bergen Brothers, Associate Charged 26 Pounds Of Fentanyl Seized In Passaic: Twin North Bergen Brothers, Associate Charged
26 Pounds Of Fentanyl Seized In Passaic: Twin North Bergen Brothers, Associate Charged New Jersey State Police seized more than 26 pounds of fentanyl worth $1.2 million on the street while charging twin brothers from North Bergen and an associate with slinging the deadly drug from a township residence and an apartment in the city of Passaic. Detectives from NJSP Drug Trafficking North Unit raided drug dens in Passaic and Hudson counties following the arrest of Edwal Mercedes, 39, during a traffic stop, authorities said. Mercedes was carrying a bogus driver's license and more than $10,000 in suspected drug cash, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and NJSP Supt. Col. Patrick J…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Two Guns, Five Arrests In Less Than 24 Hours: Paterson Crime Crackdown Continues Two Guns, Five Arrests In Less Than 24 Hours: Paterson Crime Crackdown Continues
Two Guns, Five Arrests In Less Than 24 Hours: Paterson Crime Crackdown Continues Paterson police took two guns off the street, arrested four young men and seized a juvenile in a span of less than 24 hours, authorities said. It began when a colleague alerted a detective sergeant and two detectives who were on patrol to a man carrying a handgun. The pair recovered the weapon and took Tysaun Beach, 18, into custody on 12th Avenue, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and NJ State Police Major Frederick Fife said in a joint announcement. Two other officers patrolling downtown the same day spotted Cameron Louzan, 20, who was wanted for a carjacking and weapons off…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Election Fraud: Notorious NJ Consultant Charged With Filing Fake Petitions For Partner Election Fraud: Notorious NJ Consultant Charged With Filing Fake Petitions For Partner
Election Fraud: Notorious NJ Consultant Charged With Filing Fake Petitions For Partner A controversial New Jersey political consultant was charged with election fraud for filing nearly 2,000 bogus petitions in a lame, transparent attempt at getting his life partner on the Democratic primary ballot for governor, state authorities charged. James Devine, 61, of Lambertville, filed 1,948 fraudulent petitions with the Secretary of State’s office to get Lisa McCormick on the ballot for the June 2021 primary, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said on Tuesday, May 2. "Jim" Devine -- who had been political director of the New Jersey Democratic Committee in the 1990s -- might be bes…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
BOMBSHELL: NJ Jail Officers Charged With Manslaughter In Inmate's Death, Local Police Involved BOMBSHELL: NJ Jail Officers Charged With Manslaughter In Inmate's Death, Local Police Involved
Bombshell: NJ Jail Officers Charged With Manslaughter In Inmate's Death, Local Police Involved UPDATE: What began as the investigation of three correctional officers following the death of a New Jersey inmate took a dramatic turn with manslaughter charges filed against two of them and new counts brought against five police officers who dropped him off at their jail. A state grand jury in Trenton charged Atlantic County Correctional Sgt. Eric Tornblom and Correctional Officer Mark Jenigen with manslaughter in the September 2019 death of Mario Terruso, 41, of Mays Landing, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said. The grand jury also returned charges against five Hamilton T…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Bias Intimidation: Clifton Man Charged With Smearing Feces On School Sign Bias Intimidation: Clifton Man Charged With Smearing Feces On School Sign
Bias Intimidation: Clifton Man Charged With Smearing Feces On School Sign A Clifton man was charged with bias intimidation on Friday for smearing feces on a sign at a Paterson elementary school earlier in the week, authorities announced. Mohamad Bekheet, 32, struck in the early morning hours on Monday, April 10, at a pre-K-through-8th grade school named for the late Dr. Hani Awadallah, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said. Platkin said Bekheet smeared feces over the last five letters of the name of the local educator and advocate for Arab Americans and Palestinians – or “Allah,” which means “God.” He was charged by the state Division of Criminal J…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
NO PAROLE: Ex-NJ Trooper Gets 5 Years For Using ID To Skate From Traffic Stops While Suspended NO PAROLE: Ex-NJ Trooper Gets 5 Years For Using ID To Skate From Traffic Stops While Suspended
NO Parole: Ex-NJ Trooper Gets 5 Years For Using ID To Skate From Traffic Stops While Suspended UPDATE: A disgraced former New Jersey State Police sergeant was sentenced to five years in prison without parole after a jury convicted him of using an ID card to get out of a string of Jersey Shore traffic stops while he was suspended from the force. Ex-NJSP Sgt. Marc Dennis, 51, of Waretown, also must forfeit his pension and cannot be publicly employed in New Jersey ever again, state Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said. Dennis shouldn’t have had the identification card in his possession after being relieved of his authority during the suspension, Platkin said. The 17-year department…

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by Jerry DeMarco