Tag:

Human trafficking

NJ-Based TD Bank Fined $3B For Allowing Drug Dealers, Human Traffickers To Launder Money: Feds NJ-Based TD Bank Fined $3B For Allowing Drug Dealers, Human Traffickers To Launder Money: Feds
Nj-based TD Bank Fined $3B For Allowing Drug Dealers, Human Traffickers To Launder Money: Feds TD Bank has agreed to pay about $3 billion in historic penalties after its relaxed policies allowed criminals to launder their money, authorities said. The Canadian bank with U.S. headquarters in Cherry Hill pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to not maintain an anti-money laundering program that complies with the Bank Secrecy Act, filing inaccurate currency transaction reports, and laundering money, the Justice Department said in a news release on Thursday, Oct. 10. TD Bank will pay more than $1.8 billion to resolve the DOJ's investigation and $1.3 billion in a penalty f…
PA Man Gets 5 Years For Sexually Assaulting Girl He Met On Snapchat: Warren County Prosecutor PA Man Gets 5 Years For Sexually Assaulting Girl He Met On Snapchat: Warren County Prosecutor
PA Man Gets 5 Years For Sexually Assaulting Girl He Met On Snapchat: Warren County Prosecutor A 33-year-old Bethlehem, PA man was sentenced to five years in New Jersey State Prison on Friday, Sept. 27, after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in 2022, authorities said. Garry Bunting was initially charged with human trafficking of a minor, sexual assault, and other offenses in January 2022 after he met up with a 16-year-old girl he talked to on Snapchat, took her from Pennsylvania to New Jersey, and “engaged her in multiple sexual acts,” the Warren County Prosecutor's Office said. Bunting also pled guilty to endangering the welfare of a child and attempted enda…
Meek Mill Joins NJ Gov. Murphy To Celebrate Landmark Clemency Effort On Juneteenth Meek Mill Joins NJ Gov. Murphy To Celebrate Landmark Clemency Effort On Juneteenth
Meek Mill Joins NJ Gov. Murphy To Celebrate Landmark Clemency Effort On Juneteenth Gov. Phil Murphy celebrated Juneteenth by announcing a historic initiative in an effort to improve racial justice in New Jersey. The governor signed an executive order on clemency at Saint James AME Church in Newark on Wednesday, June 19. The order establishes standards for people to receive expedited consideration for pardons and commutations. Gov. Murphy said the goal is to fix the racial inequalities that have existed in the criminal justice system. "As we celebrate Juneteenth and reflect on our nation’s ongoing journey toward racial justice for Black and Brown …
Hudson Man Admits Posting Dark Web Sex Video Of Boy Who Ended Up Taking His Own Life: FBI Hudson Man Admits Posting Dark Web Sex Video Of Boy Who Ended Up Taking His Own Life: FBI
Hudson Man Admits Posting Dark Web Sex Video Of Boy Who Ended Up Taking His Own Life: FBI A Hudson County man admitted sharing sexual videos on the dark web that he got from a minor who subsequently committed suicide, federal authorities said. Authorities arrested Julio Albery Nunez, 27, West New York, for posing as a teenage girl to get an underage boy to send him video of himself masturbating and urinating for money, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. That particular boy wasn’t the only one, records show. Nunez admitted that he “communicated electronically with several other minors and requested and received sexual content from them, including one minor victim who ultima…
NY Man, 33, Paid For Sex With 12-Year-Old In New Jersey: Police NY Man, 33, Paid For Sex With 12-Year-Old In New Jersey: Police
NY Man, 33, Paid For Sex With 12-Year-Old In New Jersey: Police A 33-year-old New York man was arrested by New Jersey State Police after paying a woman to have sex with her 12-year-old daughter, authorities said. New Jersey State Police began investigating Ulster County resident Alexander Boyd in January after he was soliciting children for sex on the internet, New Paltz Police, where Boyd lives, said. Boyd made plans with a woman to purchase her 12-year-old daughter for sex, police said. Once they settled on a price, Boyd traveled to New Jersey, booked a hotel room, and waited for the woman and her daughter, police said. He was located and taken i…
NJ Child Porn Trafficker Got Child To Perform Online For Him, Feds Charge NJ Child Porn Trafficker Got Child To Perform Online For Him, Feds Charge
NJ Child Porn Trafficker Got Child To Perform Online For Him, Feds Charge A child porn trafficker from Middlesex County got a minor to perform online for him, federal authorities charged. Francisco Villafane, 37, of Perth Amboy, initially lost contact after he began texting with the youngster in 2020, but they resumed communication in late 2023, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Villafane "exchanged sexually explicit content with the victim and solicited explicit material...including videos of the victim engaging in sexual acts at Villafane’s request," the U.S. attorney said. Members of his Newark Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force ch…
NJ High School Educator Nominated For National Teacher Of The Year NJ High School Educator Nominated For National Teacher Of The Year
NJ High School Educator Nominated For National Teacher Of The Year A Monmouth County educator who was named New Jersey's teacher of the year could also get the same recognition nationally. Joe Nappi, a history and social studies teacher at Monmouth Regional High School in Tinton Falls, is one of four finalists for the 2024 National Teacher of the Year award, The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) announced. Nappi won the state's Teacher of the Year award in September 2023. The other finalists are Cat Walker from Alaska, Christy Todd from Georgia, and Missy Testerman from Tennessee. Nappi is the third Garden State educator to be a nati…
SEEN HIM? Retired Jersey Shore Corrections Officer In Child Sex Trafficking Case Now A Fugitive SEEN HIM? Retired Jersey Shore Corrections Officer In Child Sex Trafficking Case Now A Fugitive
Seen HIM? Retired Jersey Shore Corrections Officer In Child Sex Trafficking Case Now A Fugitive New Jersey authorities turned to the public for help Tuesday finding a retired New Jersey corrections officer who fled before he was stand to trial on charges of paying for sex with a trafficked minor. Kurt Young, 56, of South Dennis Township, was briefly jailed before being released following his arrest on Jan. 28, 2020, records show. Two co-defendants took pleas and got 15 to 20 years in state prison in exchange. Meanwhile, Young -- who investigators said was positively identified by the 14-year-old victim -- skipped out during jury selection for his trial in Cape May County las…
New Englander Who Traveled To Jersey Shore For Back-Seat Sex With Pre-Teen Gets 20 Years New Englander Who Traveled To Jersey Shore For Back-Seat Sex With Pre-Teen Gets 20 Years
New Englander Who Traveled To Jersey Shore For Back-Seat Sex With Pre-Teen Gets 20 Years UPDATE: A New Hampshire man who recorded himself having sex in the back seat of his car with a 12-year-old child at the Jersey Shore must spend the next 20 years in federal prison. Scott Wilkinson, 39, must serve out the entire plea-bargained sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Twenty years means 20 years. Wilkinson traveled nearly 400 miles from Concord, NH to Egg Harbor Township -- just outside Atlantic City -- to have sex with the child, the FBI said. He recorded it and uploaded the video from his phone to a Google Drive account, which was linked to his home…
Philly Ex-Con Forced Captive Girls Into Prostitution At NJ Hotels: Indictment Philly Ex-Con Forced Captive Girls Into Prostitution At NJ Hotels: Indictment
Philly Ex-Con Forced Captive Girls Into Prostitution At NJ Hotels: Indictment An ex-con who was captured after a 15-year-old victim escaped from a South Jersey hotel room was indicted on a host of charges that include human trafficking, promoting prostitution and sexually assaulting minors, authorities announced on Thursday. Nieem Johnson, 40, whose last known address was in Philadelphia, was arrested in Atlantic City last Aug. 31 following a months-long state investigation, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said. A second victim was rescued during the arrest, Platkin said in a Jan. 18 release. “The allegations in the indictment – holding two victims in a…
Newark Man Gave Drugs To Teenagers In Exchange For Sex: Authorities Newark Man Gave Drugs To Teenagers In Exchange For Sex: Authorities
Newark Man Gave Drugs To Teenagers In Exchange For Sex: Authorities A 25-year-old Newark man was arrested on Tuesday, Dec. 19  and charged with providing drugs to minors in exchange for sex, Morris County authorities said. Between Aug. 1 and Sept. 28 of last year, Nafis Wiggins, gave two victims, 14 and 15, narcotics in exchange for sexual favors, recruiting and luring them via text messages, Morris County Prosecutor Robert J. Carroll, Chief of Detectives Robert McNally, and Chief Thomas Miller of the Chatham Township Police Department said. Wiggins met the victims throughout Chatham Township and Chatham Borough, transporting them to secluded…
Rapes, Beatings, Brandings: Married Paterson Sex Traffickers Who 'Defied Humanity' Go To Prison Rapes, Beatings, Brandings: Married Paterson Sex Traffickers Who 'Defied Humanity' Go To Prison
Rapes, Beatings, Brandings: Married Paterson Sex Traffickers Who 'Defied Humanity' Go To Prison A married Passaic County couple who operated a sex trafficking ring that raped, beat and branded women with the husband's name while he was in prison have been sentenced for their crimes, authorities announced. Enna Gonzalez, 58, was sentenced to a plea-bargained four years in federal prison last Thursday, July 6, by U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo in Newark for crimes that one federal official said “defy humanity.” Her husband, Jean “Poison” Noriega, 52, also took a deal from the government and was sentenced last month to 20 years in prison in exchange for a guilty plea, U.S. Attorn…
More Charges For Lehigh Valley Man Who Brought Girl To NJ For Sex: Authorities More Charges For Lehigh Valley Man Who Brought Girl To NJ For Sex: Authorities
More Charges For Lehigh Valley Man Who Brought Girl To NJ For Sex: Authorities A Lehigh Valley man charged with meeting up with a teen girl from Snapchat and sexually assaulting her in January 2022 is facing more offenses in a separate investigation, authorities said. Garry N. Bunting, of the 900 block of Wyandotte Street in Bethlehem, was charged on Monday, April 17 with second-degree attempted sexual assault, two counts of attempted child endangerment, and child endangerment, Warren County Prosecutor James L. Pfeiffer said. Bunting, 31, was initially charged with human trafficking of a minor, sexual assault, and other offenses in January 2022 after he met up with a …
CLIMATE OF FEAR: Jersey Doc Admits Harboring Indian Nationals As Unpaid Domestics CLIMATE OF FEAR: Jersey Doc Admits Harboring Indian Nationals As Unpaid Domestics
Climate OF FEAR: Jersey Doc Admits Harboring Indian Nationals As Unpaid Domestics A Jersey Shore doctor must pay $642,212 to two undocumented women from India whose true identities she hid for eight years while harboring them as unpaid domestics, federal authorities said. Harsha Sahni, 66, of Tinton Falls, also must cover $200,000 worth of treatment of a brain aneurysm that one of the women suffered while they worked in her and her family's homes, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Federal prosecutors required the payments as part of a plea deal that allowed Sahni to avoid the potential consequences of a conviction at a trial, the U.S. attorney said. In exchange, S…
Human Trafficking: US Homeland Security Investigations, NJSP, Others Cite New Enforcement Tools Human Trafficking: US Homeland Security Investigations, NJSP, Others Cite New Enforcement Tools
Human Trafficking: US Homeland Security Investigations, Njsp, Others Cite New Enforcement Tools New ways of targeting and stopping human trafficking will be discussed by an elite group of federal, state and local law enforcement authorities in Newark on Wednesday, Jan. 25. U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Phillip R. Sellinger, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Newark Special Agent In Charge Ricky J. Patel and Ali Boak, the director of the Global Center on Human Trafficking, will be among the speakers at the unique news media event. They will discuss joint efforts at fighting human trafficking by giving law enforcement at all levels the necessary tools – including a new mobile app and…
Jersey Shore Man Admits Recording Himself Sexually Assaulting Young Girl, Then Sharing It Jersey Shore Man Admits Recording Himself Sexually Assaulting Young Girl, Then Sharing It
Jersey Shore Man Admits Recording Himself Sexually Assaulting Young Girl, Then Sharing It A Jersey Shore man admitted recording himself sexually assaulting a young girl who authorities said was under 8 years old. FBI agents zeroed in on Christian Importuna, 27, of Englishtown, when he tried trading the videos with what turned out to be an undercover detective in March 2020, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. One of the videos shows a girl who appears less than 8 years old giving him oral sex, a complaint on file in U.S. District Court says. In the other, he is rubbing the crotch of a sleeping child who may be the same girl, it says. FBI investigators “linked the videos to…
Fairview ‘Full Service’ Massage Parlors Raided: Four Busted, Two Taken By Feds, $11,291 Seized Fairview ‘Full Service’ Massage Parlors Raided: Four Busted, Two Taken By Feds, $11,291 Seized
Fairview ‘Full Service’ Massage Parlors Raided: Four Busted, Two Taken By Feds, $11,291 Seized An undercover detective had just entered a Fairview massage parlor when an employee stripped naked and listed the prices for oral sex and intercourse, authorities said. The investigator was part of a joint task force that took down what authorities said essentially were two “full service” brothels operating as massage parlors just blocks apart. Members of the federal Homeland Security Investigations’ Human Trafficking Unit seized two women on potential immigration violations, Fairview Police Detective Lt. Michael Martic said. Four other women were busted by borough police, the lieutenant…
NJ Man Killed In Construction Accident At Hindu Temple Accused Of Human Trafficking NJ Man Killed In Construction Accident At Hindu Temple Accused Of Human Trafficking
NJ Man Killed In Construction Accident At Hindu Temple Accused Of Human Trafficking A 57-year-old man killed last week in a construction accident at a Hindu temple in South Jersey had been accused of human trafficking, police said. The unidentified man was found unresponsive when police arrived at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir temple on North Main Street in Robbinsville around 3:45 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23, authorities said. The Hillside resident was pronounced dead at the scene, located behind the temple where curbing was being installed, according to police. Further details were not immediately released. The FBI raided the temple in May 2021, around the time a law…
Human Traffickers Forced Victims Into Sex At Fortified Brothels In Asbury, Trenton, NJ AG Says Human Traffickers Forced Victims Into Sex At Fortified Brothels In Asbury, Trenton, NJ AG Says
Human Traffickers Forced Victims Into Sex At Fortified Brothels In Asbury, Trenton, NJ AG Says Customers bought poker chips to have sex with an underage girl and women who were forced into prostitution against their will by a human trafficking ring that operated out of Monmouth and Mercer counties, authorities said. New Jersey State Police watched 10 men enter a Hudson Street home in Trenton through the back door and then exit 15 to 20 minutes later one January night, Acting Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said. A man then came out and locked the gate, the attorney general said. A search-warranted raid later that night included members of the State Police T.E.A.M.S. Unit, K-9 Un…
11-Year-Old Among Hundreds Of Nationwide Sexploitation Victims Rescued By FBI, Local Agencies 11-Year-Old Among Hundreds Of Nationwide Sexploitation Victims Rescued By FBI, Local Agencies
11-Year-Old Among Hundreds Of Nationwide Sexploitation Victims Rescued By FBI, Local Agencies FBI agents based in New Jersey teamed up with local, county and state authorities to rescue five sexually exploited teenagers who were among hundreds of victims located or identified during a two-week nationwide blitz. The New Jersey joint FBI operation with State Police, the Morris County Prosecutor's Office and police from Newark, Jersey City and Morris Township was part of a nationwide enforcement campaign dubbed “Operation Cross Country.” Across the United States, similar operations the first two weeks in August identified and located a total of 84 minor victims of child sex traffickin…
NJ Transgender Family Used Daughter, 7, To Make Fetishized Porn (SENTENCING) NJ Transgender Family Used Daughter, 7, To Make Fetishized Porn (SENTENCING)
NJ Transgender Family Used Daughter, 7, To Make Fetishized Porn (Sentencing) A mom and three accomplices were sentenced to a combined 67 years in prison for sexually abusing the woman's 7-year-old daughter to make "amateur, BDSM and taboo fetish" pornography in the child's New Jersey home, authorities said. Marina Volz (aka Matthew Volz, 32), Ashley Romero (aka Adam Romero), 28), Sean Allen, 54, and Dulcinea Gnecco, 21, were sentenced by Somerset County Superior Court Judge Peter J. Tober on Friday, May 6,  Acting Prosecutor Annmarie Taggart said. The investigation into the four began in January 2019, when an anonymous caller contacted the New Jersey Divis…
WV Man Drove North Jersey Girl To Maryland To Sexually Assault Her, Left Her In PA: Prosecutor WV Man Drove North Jersey Girl To Maryland To Sexually Assault Her, Left Her In PA: Prosecutor
WV Man Drove North Jersey Girl To Maryland To Sexually Assault Her, Left Her In PA: Prosecutor A West Virginia man has been charged with human trafficking after he picked up a 14-year-old North Jersey girl he had promised a relationship with, drove to Maryland to sexually assault her, and abandoned her in Pennsylvania when he learned that she had been reported missing, authorities announced. Chad C. Corbin, Jr. was charged with first- and second-degree human trafficking, conspiracy to commit human trafficking, first-degree kidnapping, conspiracy to commit sexual assault, luring, and child endangerment, Warren County Prosecutor James L. Pfeiffer said on Tuesday, March 15. Corbin, now …
Police Seek ID For Body Found In Central Jersey Police Seek ID For Body Found In Central Jersey
Police Seek ID For Body Found In Central Jersey Police are seeking the public's help identifying a woman whose body was found at a park in Central Jersey. The New Jersey State Police Missing Persons & Human Trafficking Unit and the Carteret Police Department said the woman's body was found at the Waterfront Park in Carteret. State Pollice released a sketch of what the woman would look like. Anyone with information is asked to call Trooper Sean Gusrang of the State Police Missing Persons & Human Trafficking Unit at 609-882-2000 x 2554 or email him at sean.gusrang@njsp.org. Anonymous tips are welcome. No other details were releas…
GOTCHA! Teaneck Fugitive Accused Of Running Sex Trafficking Ring Captured At Newark Airport GOTCHA! Teaneck Fugitive Accused Of Running Sex Trafficking Ring Captured At Newark Airport
Gotcha! Teaneck Fugitive Accused Of Running Sex Trafficking Ring Captured At Newark Airport A fugitive from Bergen County wanted for running a massive sex-trafficking ring in North Jersey, Rockland and New York City was captured trying to re-enter the United States from Colombia, authorities confirmed. Birmania “Nancy” Rincon, 62, a Colombian national living in Teaneck, was among the ringleaders of a crew that forced dozens of women into prostitution, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. She was in the wind, however, when authorities seized 21 defendants during a series of early-morning raids at 19 homes and other locations in Bergen and Hudson counties exactly two weeks ag…
Pennsylvania Pimp Sentenced For Sex Trafficking Of Drugged Women In NJ Motels: Prosecutor Pennsylvania Pimp Sentenced For Sex Trafficking Of Drugged Women In NJ Motels: Prosecutor
Pennsylvania Pimp Sentenced For Sex Trafficking Of Drugged Women In NJ Motels: Prosecutor A 49-year-old man from Pennsylvania has been sentenced to 10 years in New Jersey state prison for human trafficking and failing to register as a sex offender, authorities said. Michael Tedesco, of Reading, admitted transporting women to motels in South Jersey to engage in paid sexual encounters that he arranged and then keeping a portion of what they earned for himself, according to Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina. Tedesco pleaded guilty in December to first-degree human trafficking as well as third-degree failure to register as a sex offender for an unrelated offense, Coffina sa…
Missing Underage NJ Girl Rescued From Sex Trafficking Trio Missing Underage NJ Girl Rescued From Sex Trafficking Trio
Missing Underage NJ Girl Rescued From Sex Trafficking Trio An underage girl who'd been reported missing was rescued from a trio of South Jersey human traffickers who were prostituting her, authorities said. Marquise Ogawa, 28, Chyaire Lee, 26, and Jazmin Scott, 21, all of Lawnside, were being held in the Camden County Correctional Facility in Camden, charged with various child prostitution, trafficking and endangerment counts. The victim was reported missing out of Voorhees in late October of last year, Acting Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck and New Jersey State Police Supt. Col. Patrick J. Callahan said in a joint release Tuesday. Detectives fro…
Human Trafficking Hindu Temple Suit Expands From NJ To 4 More States (PHOTOS) Human Trafficking Hindu Temple Suit Expands From NJ To 4 More States (PHOTOS)
Human Trafficking Hindu Temple Suit Expands From NJ To 4 More States (Photos) Workers accusing a Hindu organization of human trafficking at a New Jersey temple has expanded to four more states, according to the Associated Press. The suit filed in May alleges that leaders of organization Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) forced them into signing employment agreements to build a Robbinsville, NJ temple for as little as $1.20 a day, and then made them work more than 12 hours a day with no days off under security guards' watch, the AP says. Click here for photos from a Diwali celebration at the sprawling New Jersey temple. The lawsuit was …
Jersey City Police Officer Admits Going To AC To Have Sex With Young Girls Found On Incest App Jersey City Police Officer Admits Going To AC To Have Sex With Young Girls Found On Incest App
Jersey City Police Officer Admits Going To AC To Have Sex With Young Girls Found On Incest App A disgraced Jersey City police officer admitted Thursday that he drove to Atlantic City expecting to have sex with two girls – one 8, the other 10 -- for $200. Stephen Wilson, 34, of Bayonne will be sentenced to eight years in state prison in exchange for his guilty plea before a Superior Court judge in Mays Landing on Thursday to attempted aggravated sexual assault, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said. Wilson was carrying condoms and $500 in cash when State Police and federal Homeland Security agents arrested him this past February, Bruck said. He’d agre…
North Jersey Spa Closes For Human Trafficking, Prostitution Investigation North Jersey Spa Closes For Human Trafficking, Prostitution Investigation
North Jersey Spa Closes For Human Trafficking, Prostitution Investigation A North Jersey spa has been shut down indefinitely following allegations of prostitution and human trafficking, authorities said. Authorities closed the Byram Spa on Route 206 in Stanhope on June 23 after police and the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Newark determined that the business was operating an “unapproved and illegal massage establishment most likely used for prostitution,” authorities said Thursday. The initial investigation also cited concerns involving “potential human trafficking violations,” police said. The owner of the property where the spa is located remained coop…
Deportee Who Raped Paterson Girl, 15, After Illegally Re-Entering US Gets 7¾ Years Deportee Who Raped Paterson Girl, 15, After Illegally Re-Entering US Gets 7¾ Years
Deportee Who Raped Paterson Girl, 15, After Illegally Re-Entering US Gets 7¾ Years UPDATE: A deportee who snuck back into the U.S. and was living illegally in Paterson was sentenced Tuesday to 95 months in federal prison for raping a 15-year-old city girl. Juan Carlos Morales-Pedraza, a 35-year-old Mexican citizen who was born in Ecuador, had been deported in 2010, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. He'd re-entered the United States when he approached the girl in Passaic County in April 2019, had sex with her, then took her with him on a planned trip to Chicago, Honig said. They never made it that far, however. An Ohio state trooper pulled Morales-Pedraza’s 201…
Grand Jury Indicts Convicted Rapist Accused Of Riding Bus 1,450 Miles To AC Motel For Kid Sex Grand Jury Indicts Convicted Rapist Accused Of Riding Bus 1,450 Miles To AC Motel For Kid Sex
Grand Jury Indicts Convicted Rapist Accused Of Riding Bus 1,450 Miles To AC Motel For Kid Sex A convicted rapist took a bus from Oklahoma to Atlantic City to meet two men he thought were bringing their pre-teen daughters for sex, an indictment returned by a state grand jury says. The “dads” turned out to be undercover members of the New Jersey State Police and U.S. Homeland Security Investigations. Aaron D. Craiger, 34, of Oklahoma City originally was arrested in March 2020 after he checked into a motel with condoms and pot that he wanted to smoke with the “girls,” ages 11 and 12, the indictment returned Friday in Trenton says. He has remained in custody since then. SEE: Oklahoma …