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Police & Fire
Delaware Man Admits Peddling Heroin In NJ: Feds Delaware Man Admits Peddling Heroin In NJ: Feds
Delaware Man Admits Peddling Heroin In NJ: Feds A Delaware man admitted in federal court that he sold heroin in New Jersey, authorities said. Carl L. Jones, 49, of Newport, did business with "a confidential source who was working with law enforcement" in a commercial parking lot in Mount Laurel on March 29, 2019, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. According to Sellinger, Jones sold the informant a pound and a half of a a "mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of heroin." Jones took a deal from the government rather than risk the potential consequences of a guilty verdict at a trial, pleading to drug po…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Driver Who Deliberately Hit Fort Dix MPs With His Car Gets Three Years, No Parole Driver Who Deliberately Hit Fort Dix MPs With His Car Gets Three Years, No Parole
Driver Who Deliberately Hit Fort Dix MPs With His Car Gets Three Years, No Parole UPDATE: A Florida man who deliberately hit two Air Force military police officers at Fort Dix with his car -- dragging one of them several feet – is headed to federal prison for nearly three years. With no parole in the federal prison system, Hal Wander, 26, of Port Charlotte, will have to serve out the entire sentence. Then comes three years of supervised release. Wander sped through a designated checkpoint without stopping at the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst military base in Burlington County, NJ on Nov. 16, 2020, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. One of the officers got …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
UPDATE: Aging Career Criminal Gets 16 Years In Bizarre Murder-For-Hire Of NJ Politico UPDATE: Aging Career Criminal Gets 16 Years In Bizarre Murder-For-Hire Of NJ Politico
Update: Aging Career Criminal Gets 16 Years In Bizarre Murder-For-Hire Of NJ Politico An aging Connecticut ex-con would have to turn 90 to taste freedom again after he was sentenced for stabbing a political consultant to death and then torching his Jersey City apartment in a murder-for-hire hit with a longtime crony from Philadelphia. The odds are stacked against George Bratsenis, 74, of Monroe, who reportedly has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cancer. There's also no parole in the federal prison system. Unless he’s granted a compassionate release for health reasons, Bratsenis will have to serve just about all of the plea-bargained 16-year sentence approved by …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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NJ Army Vet Who Supported Syrian Terrorist Lover Gets 3 Plea-Bargained Years In Federal Prison NJ Army Vet Who Supported Syrian Terrorist Lover Gets 3 Plea-Bargained Years In Federal Prison
NJ Army Vet Who Supported Syrian Terrorist Lover Gets 3 Plea-Bargained Years In Federal Prison A U.S. Army veteran from Sussex County must spend more than three years in federal prison for deliberately concealing money and guidance she gave to a Syrian terrorist she'd fallen in love with. Because there's no parole in the federal prison system, Maria Bell, 55, must serve out just about all of the plea-bargained 36-month sentence approved by a federal judge in Newark on Tuesday, Jan. 24, Bell, of Hopatcong, offered not only money and military intelligence but the benefit of her experience in specialized weapons training to Syria-based factions fighting the Assad regime, a complaint on…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Final Defendant In Trenton Police Car Firebombing Gets 27 Months In Fed Pen Final Defendant In Trenton Police Car Firebombing Gets 27 Months In Fed Pen
Final Defendant In Trenton Police Car Firebombing Gets 27 Months In Fed Pen UPDATE: A Trenton man who threw a makeshift Molotov cocktail into a city police vehicle following a protest was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison. Kadeem A. Dockery, 31, is the last of four defendants sentenced in U.S. District Court in connection with the May 31, 2020 protest in Trenton. Video captured by surveillance cameras and personal cellphones helped authorities identify Dockery, who was arrested a little over two months later, and Killian F Melecio, 22, of Columbus, NJ. Rather than face trial, Dockery took a deal from the government, pleading guilty in May 2021 to attemptin…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Repeat Child Porn Collector From Atlantic City Gets 11 Mandatory Years Repeat Child Porn Collector From Atlantic City Gets 11 Mandatory Years
Repeat Child Porn Collector From Atlantic City Gets 11 Mandatory Years UPDATE: A previously-convicted child porn collector from Atlantic City was sentenced Thursday to more than 11 years in federal prison -- without parole -- for doing it again, authorities said. Cory Newman, a 46-year-old former U.S. Navy petty officer, must serve out just about all of the sentence handed down on Jan. 5 because there’s no parole in the federal prison system. Newman had previously spent more than four years behind bars following a 2007 conviction on similar charges when he showed up on law enforcement radar once again, authorities said. Agents of Homeland Security Invest…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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7½ Years Without Parole Awaits Twice-Armed NJ Ex-Con Nabbed By Federal Marshals 7½ Years Without Parole Awaits Twice-Armed NJ Ex-Con Nabbed By Federal Marshals
7½ Years Without Parole Awaits Twice-Armed NJ Ex-Con Nabbed By Federal Marshals UPDATE: An Essex County ex-con who rolled the dice and went to trial on drug and weapons charges is now headed to federal prison for more than 7½ years without parole as a result. Teriek Edwards, 44, of Newark, had already been charged by East Orange police with having heroin, cocaine, Oxycodone and other drugs, as well as a loaded 9mm handgun, during a previous arrest when U.S. Marshals seized him on a warrant in August 2018. Once again, he was packing a loaded 9, federal authorities said. Edwards went to trial rather than take a deal from the government. Jurors in U.S. District Court in…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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FEDS: Getaway Minivan Driver Gets 12 Years, No Parole, For Armed Robbery Spree In NJ, PA FEDS: Getaway Minivan Driver Gets 12 Years, No Parole, For Armed Robbery Spree In NJ, PA
Feds: Getaway Minivan Driver Gets 12 Years, No Parole, For Armed Robbery Spree In NJ, PA UPDATE: The man who drove the getaway car -- actually a minivan -- in an armed robbery spree in New Jersey and Pennsylvania must spend the next 12 years in federal prison. Omar Feliciano-Estremera, 45, was the wheelman for a fellow Trentonian Gabriel Lopez, who authorities said fired a gun during one of the holdups. The pair committed the robberies at mostly convenience stores in Mercer and Union counties in New Jersey and in Bucks County, PA in May and June of 2019, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Lopez "entered the businesses, brandished a handgun, and demanded money from the sto…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
PLEA DEAL: 10 Years, No Parole, Awaits Philly Dealer Who Slung Meth In NJ PLEA DEAL: 10 Years, No Parole, Awaits Philly Dealer Who Slung Meth In NJ
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…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Paterson Ex-Con Admits Having Drugs, Gun When Detectives Busted In Paterson Ex-Con Admits Having Drugs, Gun When Detectives Busted In
Paterson Ex-Con Admits Having Drugs, Gun When Detectives Busted In UPDATE: A convicted pedophile from Paterson whose parole officers found large amounts of cash on top of his bed admitted on Thursday that he kept a loaded gun beneath it, authorities said. Jessie Mayfield, 59, told a judge he also had fentanyl for sale along with ilegal .22-caliber Ruger -- which, as a convicted felon, he was prohibited from owning, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said on Nov. 17. Records show that Mayfield served three years and eight months in state prison for sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl and 12-year-old boy and fondling two other girls, ages 5 and 6, in 2014. …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Bizman Who Laundered $2.5M In Drug Money Through NJ, NY Gets Nearly 10 Years, No Parole Bizman Who Laundered $2.5M In Drug Money Through NJ, NY Gets Nearly 10 Years, No Parole
Bizman Who Laundered $2.5M In Drug Money Through NJ, NY Gets Nearly 10 Years, No Parole A Puerto Rican man must spend nearly a decade in federal prison for laundering more than $2.5 million in drug proceeds through New Jersey and New York. Osvaldo Villegas Rivera, 57, of Rio Piedras, conspired with others to move the money from Miami to Venezuela between 2017 and 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a release on Friday, Oct. 28. "The proceeds consisted of five deliveries of bulk cash picked up in the New York and New Jersey area that Villegas knew to be traceable to the sale of cocaine," according to the release. Villegas "also employed a network of couriers to move t…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Philly Area Mom Who Once Faked Daughter's Kidnapping Now Accused Of Embezzlement In NJ Philly Area Mom Who Once Faked Daughter's Kidnapping Now Accused Of Embezzlement In NJ
Philly Area Mom Who Once Faked Daughter's Kidnapping Now Accused Of Embezzlement In NJ A former Pennsylvania mom now living in New Jersey who was once accused of faking her daughter's kidnapping has been charged with embezzling "tens of thousands" of dollars from her employer, authorities said. Bonnie Sweeten, 51, of Delanco, faces two counts of federal wire fraud charges, the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania announced in a release on Monday, Oct. 17.  It's the second time Sweeten, formerly of Feasterville, has been accused of fleecing her employer — in 2012, she was sentenced to 100 months in prison after a federal court convicted her o…

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by Mac Bullock