NJ Veterans Homes Where Pandemic Deaths Soared Violated Residents' Civil Rights, Feds Find NJ Veterans Homes Where Pandemic Deaths Soared Violated Residents' Civil Rights, Feds Find
NJ Veterans Homes Where Pandemic Deaths Soared Violated Residents' Civil Rights, Feds Find UPDATE: State-run veterans homes in Paramus and Menlo Park violated the civil rights of their residents during the COVID pandemic and must correct policies and procedures going forward, federal authorities said Thursday. COVID killed more than 200 residents and staff at New Jersey's veterans’ homes, which was among the highest in the entire country. The pandemic claimed a total of 103 residents at the Memorial Veterans Home in Edison and 89 at the Paramus Veterans Memorial Home, according to New Jersey's Department of Health. The state to this point has paid nearly $70 million to settle la…
NJ Couple Ginned Up Immigrant Asylum Applications, Charged Clients $1,000 A Pop: Feds NJ Couple Ginned Up Immigrant Asylum Applications, Charged Clients $1,000 A Pop: Feds
NJ Couple Ginned Up Immigrant Asylum Applications, Charged Clients $1,000 A Pop: Feds A New Jersey couple who operated an immigration business from their home are facing a federal trial for submitting bogus asylum applications for clients from Sri Lanka, authorities said. Zuwairul Ameer, 61, and his wife, Claudette Ameer, 63, had been doing it since at least 2007 when a client who was approached by the FBI agreed to become a government cooperator, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. Applicants for asylum in the U.S. must show Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that they have suffered persecution in their homeland because of their race, religion, …
Paterson Jewelry Store Robbery Part Of Multi-State Crime Spree Involving DC Rapper: Feds Paterson Jewelry Store Robbery Part Of Multi-State Crime Spree Involving DC Rapper: Feds
Paterson Jewelry Store Robbery Part Of Multi-State Crime Spree Involving DC Rapper: Feds Three masked men who robbed a Paterson jewelry store of more than $1 million worth of merchandise at gunpoint last year were part of a violent East Coast crime ring that included a Washington, DC-based rapper, federal authorities said Wednesday. Trevor Wright – aka “Taliban Glizzy” – was among 16 defendants named in an indictment unsealed by federal authorities in the nation’s capital on Aug. 30. Mohammad Sheik had only just opened the Paradise Jewelry Store at the corner of Main Street and Delaware Avenue in Paterson several weeks earlier when the place was robbed last fall. It was one o…
Biz Owners Take Pleas After NJ Feds Seize Record $14M Worth Of Cisco Networking Knockoffs Biz Owners Take Pleas After NJ Feds Seize Record $14M Worth Of Cisco Networking Knockoffs
Biz Owners Take Pleas After NJ Feds Seize Record $14M Worth Of Cisco Networking Knockoffs Three North Jersey business owners admitted importing and selling cheap knockoffs of Cisco Systems networking equipment after federal agents seized an unprecedented $14 million worth of the devices from their warehouse in Passaic County. Musa Karaman, 35, of North Arlington, was the last of the trio to take a deal from the government, pleading guilty to trafficking counterfeit goods in U.S. District Court in Newark on Thursday, Aug. 24. Accomplices Sadri Ozturan, 37, of Hawthorne, and Israfil "David" Demir, 38, of Secaucus both pleaded guilty to the same charges on Aug. 8, U.S. Attorney for…
Hudsonite Who Got Mail-Order Fentanyl From Mexico Gets Two Years, No Parole, In Federal Prison Hudsonite Who Got Mail-Order Fentanyl From Mexico Gets Two Years, No Parole, In Federal Prison
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…
Jersey Shore Advisor Who Swindled Mentally Impaired Elderly Siblings Gets 3½ Years In Fed Pen Jersey Shore Advisor Who Swindled Mentally Impaired Elderly Siblings Gets 3½ Years In Fed Pen
Jersey Shore Advisor Who Swindled Mentally Impaired Elderly Siblings Gets 3½ Years In Fed Pen UPDATE: A former investment advisor from the Jersey Shore who admitted swindling elderly and impaired clients out of more than $625,000 to partly fund a gambling habit was sentenced to a plea-bargained 3½ years in federal prison this week. Mario E. Rivero Jr., 39, of Red Bank, must serve out the entire term because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Rivero, a former Wells Fargo agent and investment adviser representative who had an office in Elizabeth, convinced five clients to transfer investment funds to their personal bank accounts, federal authorities charged. Many of his …
Saudi National Who Drove Stolen NJ School Bus To PA Indicted By Federal Grand Jury Saudi National Who Drove Stolen NJ School Bus To PA Indicted By Federal Grand Jury
Saudi National Who Drove Stolen NJ School Bus To PA Indicted By Federal Grand Jury A college student from Saudi Arabia who stole a school bus in Livingston, NJ, and drove it nearly 60 miles to Stroudsburg, PA, has been indicted by a federal grand jury, authorities said. Bader Alzahrani, a 22-year-old divorced sophomore who attends an undisclosed college, broke into a vacant home across the street from a Livingston Board of Education parking lot on Hill Side Avenue where the bus was parked on Jan. 15, the indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Newark says. The district reported the bus stolen two days later. Police found a backpack with a Saudi Arabian passport bea…
'Altared' State: NJ Sisters Admit Staging Sham Marriages To Keep Non-Citizens In US 'Altared' State: NJ Sisters Admit Staging Sham Marriages To Keep Non-Citizens In US
'Altared' State: NJ Sisters Admit Staging Sham Marriages To Keep Non-Citizens In US UPDATE: Two sisters from Newark admitted obtaining phony marriage licenses and staging bogus wedding ceremonies, receptions and other events in an elaborate scheme to help undocumented non-citizens avoid deportation, federal authorities said. Regina Johnson, 59, and her sister, Andrea Torres, ran the sham scam for nearly three years, recruiting and paying U.S. citizens to pose as spouses, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Their clients: non-citizens looking to remain in the country despite the lack of legal status or proper documentation. As part of the fraud, the sisters "…
Police Responding To 911 OD Call Find Destructive Devices In South Jersey Home: ATF Police Responding To 911 OD Call Find Destructive Devices In South Jersey Home: ATF
Police Responding To 911 OD Call Find Destructive Devices In South Jersey Home: ATF Police who responded to a 911 call of a possible drug overdose in a Mays Landing housing development were in for a surprise. A Hamilton Township officer who assisted the unconscious Robert J. Moser, 31, in the bedroom of his parents' three-year-old home on March 17 made the discovery. The officer spotted "numerous suspicious devices covered in tape with exposed fuses," U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. "Officers secured the scene and recovered at least two destructive devices," the U.S. attorney said on Tuesday, May 8. One of them "contained explosive powder…
FBI Seizes Jersey Shore Man Accused Of Enticing Kids Into Making, Sending Sex Videos FBI Seizes Jersey Shore Man Accused Of Enticing Kids Into Making, Sending Sex Videos
FBI Seizes Jersey Shore Man Accused Of Enticing Kids Into Making, Sending Sex Videos An Ocean County man enticed children into producing and sending him sex videos, federal authorities charged. A federal judge in Trenton ordered Daniel Nilla, 35, Brick, held following his arrest by the FBI, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said on Friday, Aug. 4. Nilla received "images and videos containing child exploitation material from five minor victims" he communicated with on an instant messenger app, the U.S. attorney said. "Nilla induced at least two of those minor victims to send him images and videos of themselves engaging in sexually explicit conduct," Sellinger added. Nilla,…
NJ Biz Owner Admits Conning Customers Out Of $2.1M By Substituting Dirt, Debris For Scrap NJ Biz Owner Admits Conning Customers Out Of $2.1M By Substituting Dirt, Debris For Scrap
NJ Biz Owner Admits Conning Customers Out Of $2.1M By Substituting Dirt, Debris For Scrap The owner of a New Jersey-based scrap metal company told a customer that dirt and debris found packed into a container shipped to Korea that was supposed to hold aluminum scrap was a mistake, authorities said. Turns out it wasn’t. Creed White, 64, of Freeland, Maryland, admitted in federal court in Camden this week that he scammed a dozen or so businesses out of more than $2 million, authorities said on Thursday, Aug. 3. Using the name “Dan Stein,” White contacted one of the victims through an Internet message board on behalf of his Camden-based company American Scrap company, a complaint …
'Y’All Never Gonna Find Me': NJ Feds Seize Ex-Con Who Taunted Cops After Dunkin Donuts Shooting 'Y’All Never Gonna Find Me': NJ Feds Seize Ex-Con Who Taunted Cops After Dunkin Donuts Shooting
'Y’All Never Gonna Find Me': NJ Feds Seize Ex-Con Who Taunted Cops After Dunkin Donuts Shooting A Clifton ex-con and former associate of rapper Fetty Wap who taunted police on Instagram following a shooting at a local Dunkin’ Donuts is now in federal custody. Surveillance video shows Justin Pope, 36, firing several shots at a woman who fled a Mercedes Benz during an argument in the parking lot of the Van Houten Avenue donut shop shortly after 9 p.m. July 12, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. He missed her, but a bullet crashed through the window of the Dunkin' Donuts. The bullet ended up "lodged in an electronic menu screen located above the cash registers of the…