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Police & Fire
Illegal Border Crosser Seized By ICE After Punching Local NJ Officer In Face Illegal Border Crosser Seized By ICE After Punching Local NJ Officer In Face
Illegal Border Crosser Seized By ICE After Punching Local NJ Officer In Face A Guatemalan national who authorities said crossed the U.S. border illegally was seized by federal agents after he punched a Closter police officer in the face. Emiliano Cotzalo-Santiago, 24, was living in Palisades Park and working on a construction site in Closter when he began walking down the middle of Cedar Lane, obstructing traffic, Police Capt. Vincent Aiello said. This prompted calls to police. Cotzal-Santiago “attacked the first officer that he came in contact with by punching him in the face,” the captain said. A second officer sustained cuts on his hand as they attempted to han…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Business
Four NJ Restaurants Make Yelp's Top 100 In America Four NJ Restaurants Make Yelp's Top 100 In America
Four NJ Restaurants Make Yelp's Top 100 In America New Jersey foodies have some new places to add to their list, if they haven't dined there already. Four restaurants from the Garden State made Yelp's annual Top 100 US Restaurants 2024 list. Boomchia in Montclair ranked 21st on the list. The restaurant has a five star rating on Yelp serves up healthy bowls, offering ingredients like dark chocolate granola, blue coconut, bananas, cashew butter and gogi berries.  View this post on Instagram A post shared by Alex Colonna (@thetypicalfoodie) "Best Chia Acai bowl," wrote one Yelp reviewer. "…

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by Sam Barron
News
Toms River Company Among 19 NJ Businesses Who Owe $1.1M In Unpaid Dues, State Says Toms River Company Among 19 NJ Businesses Who Owe $1.1M In Unpaid Dues, State Says
Toms River Company Among 19 NJ Businesses Who Owe $1.1M In Unpaid Dues, State Says Nineteen businesses who owe a total of $1.1 million have been barred from public contracting until they pay back their dues, the New Jersey Department of Labor said. R.A. Florio Building Contractors Inc., of Toms River, for example, has been ordered to pay $39,555.57 to the state, according to the department of labor and workforce development. The final judgment was given on Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020.  The contractor is one of 101 total businesses on New Jersey's Workplace Accountability in Labor List, also known as the WALL. According to the state, Florio Building Contractors violated …

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by Chris Spiker & Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
GOTCHA! NJ Duo Charged With Beating Gas Station Attendants In Armed Tri-County Robbery Spree GOTCHA! NJ Duo Charged With Beating Gas Station Attendants In Armed Tri-County Robbery Spree
Gotcha! NJ Duo Charged With Beating Gas Station Attendants In Armed Tri-County Robbery Spree Two men wanted for beating attendants during a two-day spree of quick-stop armed gas station robberies in three New Jersey counties were captured by federal agents, authorities said. Ex-con Ahmad Singletary, 24, and Joseph Young, 26, both of Newark, committed three of the robberies last Sept. 5, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Four more holdups -- also in a single day -- followed exactly a week later, the U.S. attorney said. Singletary "threatened, assaulted, and struck victims in the head" with a Ruger 9 mm P95 handgun, injuring all of them, a complaint filed by the ATF says. Th…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Heart Disease Aggravated By Meth Use Killed Newark Suspect Following Arrest: Medical Examiner Heart Disease Aggravated By Meth Use Killed Newark Suspect Following Arrest: Medical Examiner
Heart Disease Aggravated By Meth Use Killed Newark Suspect Following Arrest: Medical Examiner It’s unsettling to watch video of a suspect you know has died. The last moments for Raul DeJesus -- who led Newark police on a foot chase before collapsing near Route 280 -- are no exception. Newark police did nothing wrong during the encounter, a grand jury has found. Among the evidence reviewed by the grand jurors are three police bodycams, one of them worn by the officer who began chasing the 43-year-old Newark native on foot after he ran. Two others graphically document the arrest and the moments that followed as highway traffic barreled by. In the end, what killed DeJesus was heart …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Lifestyle
Couple's NJ Restaurant, 2 Area Chefs Nominated For James Beard Awards Couple's NJ Restaurant, 2 Area Chefs Nominated For James Beard Awards
Couple's NJ Restaurant, 2 Area Chefs Nominated For James Beard Awards A Monmouth County restaurant and two Garden State chefs are among the nominees for the prestigious James Beard Awards. The James Beard Foundation announced the semifinalists for the 2024 Restaurant and Chef Awards on Wednesday, Jan 24. The awards recognize the nation's best restaurants, chefs, food writers, and others in the hospitality industry. Lita, an Iberian cuisine restaurant in Aberdeen by Chef David Viana and his girlfriend Neilly Robinson, was among the 30 semifinal nominees for the best new restaurant award. According to its website, the Route 34 restaurant spe…

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by Chris Spiker
Police & Fire
NJ Attorney, Son Charged With Ripping Off Hundreds Of Immigrants In Bronx NJ Attorney, Son Charged With Ripping Off Hundreds Of Immigrants In Bronx
NJ Attorney, Son Charged With Ripping Off Hundreds Of Immigrants In Bronx Homeland Security agents smashed an operation run by a New Jersey father and son who for years fooled hundreds of immigrants living in the Bronx into paying thousands of dollars for services that only got many of them deported, authorities said. Instead of legitimately fast-tracking their clients’ bids for legal U.S. residency, attorney Kofi Amankwaa and his son, Kofi Jr., filed false petitions to the federal government claiming that the immigrants’ children had abused them, authorities said. All this did, they said, was put the applicants on immigration officials’ radar, leading to green c…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Disgraced Owner Of Failed NJ Nursing Home Chain From NY Admits Stiffing IRS Out Of $39M: Feds Disgraced Owner Of Failed NJ Nursing Home Chain From NY Admits Stiffing IRS Out Of $39M: Feds
Disgraced Owner Of Failed NJ Nursing Home Chain From NY Admits Stiffing IRS Out Of $39M: Feds 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: A onetime insurance broker from Rockland County who ran a nationwide network of nearly 100 nursing homes into the ground from an office over a Bergen County pizzeria admitted that he purposely shorted the IRS nearly $39M, federal authorities said. Joseph Schwartz, 64, of Suffern, owned Skyline Management Group, which was based in the Wood-Ridge and amassed 95 nursing homes across 11 states. These once included Hudson View Care & Rehab Center in North Bergen, Brookhaven Health Care Center in East Orange and the Voorhees Care & Rehabilitation Center. Over a period of only sev…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Gunman Gets 8 Years, No Parole, For $35,000 Secaucus Bank Robbery Gunman Gets 8 Years, No Parole, For $35,000 Secaucus Bank Robbery
Gunman Gets 8 Years, No Parole, For $35,000 Secaucus Bank Robbery An out-of-state man who admitted robbing a bank in Secaucus of $35,000 in cash at gunpoint was sentenced to nearly eight years in federal prison, authorities said. Jose Luis Martinez, 33, of Iowa, must serve all of the plea-bargained 94-month sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Martinez was wearing glasses, an Everlast hoodie and two wool caps when he entered the Bank of America branch on Park Plaza Drive on Jan. 5, 2017, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. He pointed a long-barreled gun at a teller and said he'd “shoot her and other customer…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Wheelman Admits Role In Carjacking Of Montclair Woman In Her Driveway: Feds Wheelman Admits Role In Carjacking Of Montclair Woman In Her Driveway: Feds
Wheelman Admits Role In Carjacking Of Montclair Woman In Her Driveway: Feds An Essex County man admitted his role in carjacking a Montclair woman at gunpoint in her driveway, federal authorities said. Andy Cook, 24, of Newark was with an armed man who pointed a gun at the victim, ordered her to leave her purse, phone and keys behind and get out of her 2021 Porsche Cayenne on Melrose Place in the township's Estate section on Dec. 6, 2021, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Cook then got behind the wheel and drove off, he said. Essex County sheriff's officers spotted the Porsche on Route 280 in East Orange a short time later and pursued it. Cook soon hit heavy…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
10-Year Minimum Awaits Repeat Child Porn Collector Caught With 1,300 Files At Newark Airport 10-Year Minimum Awaits Repeat Child Porn Collector Caught With 1,300 Files At Newark Airport
10-Year Minimum Awaits Repeat Child Porn Collector Caught With 1,300 Files At Newark Airport A convicted child porn collector from North Jersey who'd moved to Ecuador after serving his time here is headed to federal prison for at least 10 more years. Christopher Carvajal, 30, most recently of North Bergen, had 900 videos and more than 400 images of child sex -- some of it involving infants or toddlers -- on his iPhone when Homeland Security Investigations seized him at Newark Airport last year. It also contained messages in which Carvajal "discussed his desire for sexual encounters with young children," U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Rather than risk a much more lengthy…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Two Teens Charged In Killing Of 14-Year-Old In Atlantic City Two Teens Charged In Killing Of 14-Year-Old In Atlantic City
Two Teens Charged In Killing Of 14-Year-Old In Atlantic City Two teenagers are facing charges in the killing of a 14-year-old boy who was shot in the head in Atlantic City earlier this month, authorities said. The two charged teens are 16 years old and were arrested on Tuesday, Jan. 9, the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office announced on Tuesday, Jan. 16.  One boy is being held at Harborfields Atlantic Youth Center in Egg Harbor City and the other is in custody at the Essex County Youth Detention Center in Newark. Atlantic City police responded to a shooting on the 3300 block of Atlantic Avenue just before 11 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 5. O…

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by Chris Spiker