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$700K Gold, Bitcoin Theft: ‘PayPal’ Poser From NJ Scams Elderly PA Man, DA Says $700K Gold, Bitcoin Theft: ‘PayPal’ Poser From NJ Scams Elderly PA Man, DA Says
$700K Gold, Bitcoin Theft: ‘PayPal’ Poser From NJ Scams Elderly PA Man, DA Says A slick con artist posing as a PayPal agent scammed a 74-year-old Pennsylvania man out of nearly $700,000 in gold and cryptocurrency, authorities revealed on Friday, Feb. 28. Hirtik Hemchand Khatri, 24, of Lawrence Township, New Jersey, allegedly orchestrated a high-stakes fraud that convinced the victim to empty his savings, fearing he’d be arrested if he didn’t comply, Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan and Whitehall Township Police Chief Michael Marks said. Khatri, who twice showed up at the victim’s home in a Mercedes-Benz to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in gol…

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by Jillian Pikora
News
Feds Crush NY-NJ iPhone Heist Ring That Hijacked Tracking Data, Bribed Employees Feds Crush NY-NJ iPhone Heist Ring That Hijacked Tracking Data, Bribed Employees
Feds Crush Ny-nj iPhone Heist Ring That Hijacked Tracking Data, Bribed Employees Thirteen members of an international crime ring that stole thousands of iPhones and electronics from FedEx and other carriers across the U.S. have been charged in New Jersey, authorities announced. The network, which operated from the Bronx to the Dominican Republic, used hacked tracking data, bribed store employees, and organized package theft to steal millions of dollars worth of devices, Acting U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna said. The crew used computer scripts to scrape tracking data from FedEx and a major U.S. cellular provider, court documents say. Bribed retail employees (including some …

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by Cecilia Levine
News
Middlesex County Home Invaders Tied Up, Held Victim At Gunpoint: Authorities Middlesex County Home Invaders Tied Up, Held Victim At Gunpoint: Authorities
Middlesex County Home Invaders Tied Up, Held Victim At Gunpoint: Authorities Three North Brunswick men were recently arrested and charged after they tied up a man and held him at gunpoint on Tuesday, Jan. 28 in West Caldwell, authorities said. 32-year-old Joel Llanes, 30-year-old Israel Ruiz and 25-year-old Louis Ramirez were charged with robbery, home invasion and kidnapping, in a case that involved Homeland Security, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office said. At 4:36 a.m., officers responded to Lougheed Avenue on a report of a home invasion, West Caldwell police said. The resident of the home was awakened by the sound of forced entry through a rear sliding glass …

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by Sam Barron
Police & Fire
Pair Who Flew Drone Dangerously Close To Boston's Logan Airport In Custody After Pursuit: Cops Pair Who Flew Drone Dangerously Close To Boston's Logan Airport In Custody After Pursuit: Cops
Pair Who Flew Drone Dangerously Close To Boston's Logan Airport In Custody After Pursuit: Cops Two Massachusetts men were arrested on Saturday, Dec. 14, after a hazardous drone operation near Logan International Airport triggered a coordinated safety response, police said. Boston Police officers apprehended 42-year-old Robert Duffy of Charlestown and 32-year-old Jeremy Folcik of Bridgewater, on Long Island in the Boston Harbor Islands around 10:22 p.m. Both face charges of trespassing, with additional charges potentially pending. The incident began at 4:30 p.m. when a Boston Police Officer monitoring real-time crime surveillance detected a drone dangerously close to Logan Internation…

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by Cecilia Levine
Politics
Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy Tapped To Head Trump's New Dept. Of Government Efficiency Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy Tapped To Head Trump's New Dept. Of Government Efficiency
Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy Tapped To Head Trump's New Dept. Of Government Efficiency President-Elect Donald Trump continues to fill his cabinet with loyalists and his biggest supporters following his sweeping victory in last week's election.  He announced Tuesday, Nov. 12, that two billionaire former rivals turned allies, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, would head up his new Department of Government Efficiency.  Related: Trump Nominates NY Rep. Elise Stefanik As UN Ambassador The tech entrepreneur, age 53, and the 39-year-old Harvard and Yale Law grad will be tasked with major cuts in government spending. Trump called it "The Manhattan Project" for a new…

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by Josh Lanier
Police & Fire
Feds: Fugitive Who Sold Mail-Order Fentanyl To NJ Customers On Dark Web Indicted On 14 Counts Feds: Fugitive Who Sold Mail-Order Fentanyl To NJ Customers On Dark Web Indicted On 14 Counts
Feds: Fugitive Who Sold Mail-Order Fentanyl To NJ Customers On Dark Web Indicted On 14 Counts A fugitive who sold mail-order fentanyl on the dark web while being pursued by authorities in Canada for nearly two years was indicted on federal charges in New Jersey on Tuesday following a Homeland Security investigation. Michael C. Wozney, a 38-year-old Canadian national from Ontario, was a fugitive when he slung the potentially fatal drug in various dark net marketplaces, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. This included hundreds of transactions in the Empire Market, according to a 14-count indictment that Sellinger said was returned by a grand jury in Newark on Jan. …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
$1M In Cash, $2M In Luxury Cars, 200 Catalytic Converter Pallets Seized In Federal NJ Bust $1M In Cash, $2M In Luxury Cars, 200 Catalytic Converter Pallets Seized In Federal NJ Bust
$1M In Cash, $2M In Luxury Cars, 200 Catalytic Converter Pallets Seized In Federal NJ Bust A Homeland Security investigation netted eight area arrests, including six in Newark, as part of a nationwide takedown of a large catalytic converter and stolen car ring. HSI and FBI agents seized more than 200 pallets of catalytic converters, $2 million in exotic cars, $1 million in cash and 29 ounces of gold bars, jewelry and high-value handbags as part of the operation.  "This criminal enterprise involved multiple suspects across the country," said Special Agent In Charge Ricky J. Patel of HSI Newark.  A total of 21 suspects were arrested in eight states.

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by Jon Craig
News
Jersey Shore Woman, 48, Indicted For Murdering Wife With Wine Chiller, Prosecutor Says Jersey Shore Woman, 48, Indicted For Murdering Wife With Wine Chiller, Prosecutor Says
Jersey Shore Woman, 48, Indicted For Murdering Wife With Wine Chiller, Prosecutor Says A 49-year-old woman from the Jersey Shore has been indicted in connection with the fatal bludgeoning of her wife last year, authorities said. Mayra Gavilanez-Alectus of Brick Township was indicted by a grand jury on Wednesday on murder and weapons charges, according to Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer. The charges come in connection with the death of the suspect's 32-year-old spouse, Rebecca Gavilanez-Alectus, at their Creek Road home on May 17, 2020, Billhimer said. Mayra Gavilanez-Alectus' weapons charges relate to her allegedly using a wine container…

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by Jon Craig
News
FBI, Homeland Security Raid Robbinsville Hindu Temple FBI, Homeland Security Raid Robbinsville Hindu Temple
FBI, Homeland Security Raid Robbinsville Hindu Temple FBI and Homeland Security agents descended on a Hindu temple in Mercer County on Tuesday. Agents raided BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir at 112 N. Main St. in Robbinsville at about 8 a.m. and are expected to be there the rest of the day, authorities said.  The New York Times reported that the raid is connected to a lawsuit that claims low-caste men have been brought from India to work on the massive temple for about $1 an hour.  Robbinsville police and the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office were not involved in the activity. “The FBI is there on court-authorized law enforcement acti…

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by Jon Craig
News
Ex-Mamajuana Café Co-Owner From Bergen Admits Bankruptcy Fraud Ex-Mamajuana Café Co-Owner From Bergen Admits Bankruptcy Fraud
Ex-Mamajuana Café Co-Owner From Bergen Admits Bankruptcy Fraud UPDATE: A Bergen County businessman who once co-owned the popular Mamajuana Café chain admitted in federal court that he concealed assets from a bankruptcy trustee. An investigation by the NYPD and New York City-based Homeland Security agents led to charges against Victor Osorio, 53, of Cresskill, who helped spark the Dominican restaurant chain's expansion to Paterson, East Rutherford, Secaucus, West New York and Woodbridge, as well as to New York and Florida. Osorio, a Dominican native who also co-owned a separate restaurant in Pennsylvania, filed for Chapter 7 relief in U.S. District Cour…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Feds: NJ Man Who Sent Links To Investigator For $20 Had 22,000 Child Sex Abuse Images Feds: NJ Man Who Sent Links To Investigator For $20 Had 22,000 Child Sex Abuse Images
Feds: NJ Man Who Sent Links To Investigator For $20 Had 22,000 Child Sex Abuse Images For just $20, a South Jersey man sent an undercover investigator links to websites that contained images of child sexual abuse, but that was nothing compared to what later turned up, federal authorities said. Homeland Security agents who raided the Willingboro home of Al-Fahim Medina, 22, found more than 22,000 illegal images, including those of “prepubescent children being sexually abused,” Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. It all began last January, Honig said, when the undercover agent found coded online language offering the sale of child pornography on Twitter. The Twitter…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Feds: Essex County Man Shared Child Sex Abuse Videos Feds: Essex County Man Shared Child Sex Abuse Videos
Feds: Essex County Man Shared Child Sex Abuse Videos An Essex County man trafficked child sex abuse videos, said federal authorities who arrested him this week.Mauricio Calderon, 49, of Belleville had several of the images on devices at his home when federal Homeland Security agents arrested him,  U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced. Calderon shared "multiple graphic videos depicting the sexual abuse of minors" using an app, Carpenito said.He also "publicly posted in a chatroom multiple videos depicting the sexual abuse of children and also sent links that redirected to web-pages containing child pornography," the U.S. attorney said. …

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by Jerry DeMarco