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Jenny On The Block: J-Lo Shooting New Movie In New Jersey Jenny On The Block: J-Lo Shooting New Movie In New Jersey
Jenny On The Block: J-Lo Shooting New Movie In New Jersey If you were walking around Hudson County and thought, "Wait, is that Jennifer Lopez," well, it probably was. Jennifer Lopez is in town shooting the new movie "Kiss of the Spider Woman," according to Steven Gorelick, the director of the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission.  The movie is filming at Cinelease Studios Caven Point in Jersey City and 10 Basin Studios in Kearny. "Kiss of the Spider Woman" is an adaption of the 1992 Broadway musical about a gay hairdresser who while imprisoned in brutal conditions in 1980s Argentina, imagines films starring an actress, Au…

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by Sam Barron
Police & Fire
Former Essex County Chief Of Detectives Accidentally Shoots Himself: Prosecutor Former Essex County Chief Of Detectives Accidentally Shoots Himself: Prosecutor
Former Essex County Chief Of Detectives Accidentally Shoots Himself: Prosecutor Authorities are investigating after Anthony Ambrose, the former chief of detectives for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, accidentally shot himself on Friday, March 22. The incident occurred at a private office complex in Cedar Grove, Essex County Prosecutor Theodore Stephens, II said.  He was treated and released at a nearby hospital for a non-life-threatening wound, Stephens said. Ambrose joined the Newark Police Department in 1986 and became chief in 1999. He was an undersheriff in the Essex County Sheriff's Office and was public safety director for Newark from 2016 to 2021. A…

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by Sam Barron
News
Family Of Newark Cheerleader Critically Injured In Crash Takes Legal Action Family Of Newark Cheerleader Critically Injured In Crash Takes Legal Action
Family Of Newark Cheerleader Critically Injured In Crash Takes Legal Action The family of an 18-year-old Newark cheerleader critically injured in a crash outside of her school last month has taken legal action against the Newark Board of Education and others they say are responsible for the accident. The family of Chiara Jones, the 18-year-old Newark cheerleader who was critically injured after she was struck by a hit-and-run vehicle outside her high school while coming home from a competition, announced on Monday, March 25, they have filed a notice of claim against the school district.  Chiara Jones was struck by a vehicle outside Arts High School while getti…

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by Sam Barron
Police & Fire
Paroled NJ Drug Dealer Admits Trafficking Kilo Of Coke Armed With Trio Of Guns Paroled NJ Drug Dealer Admits Trafficking Kilo Of Coke Armed With Trio Of Guns
Paroled NJ Drug Dealer Admits Trafficking Kilo Of Coke Armed With Trio Of Guns 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: An ex-con from Newark who spent 13 years in state prison will be doing federal time after admitting that he trafficked a kilo of cocaine while packing three guns. Carlos Ovidio Gonzalez, 36, was paroled in March 2022 after serving time for drug dealing and illegal weapons possession convictions out of Morris County in 2009, records show. Gonzalez faces significantly more time now that he's pleaded guilty in federal court to having and conspiring to sell coke and fentanyl and illegally possessing guns and ammo, among other counts. Unlike the state of New Jersey, the federal prison s…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Convicted MS-13 Killer Sentenced In NJ Murder Plot Convicted MS-13 Killer Sentenced In NJ Murder Plot
Convicted MS-13 Killer Sentenced In NJ Murder Plot 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: A member of an MS-13 clique who just began serving 40 years in federal prison for a murder in Virginia was sentenced to 10 years for his role in a failed plot to kill a rival in Hudson County. The plea-bargained sentence approved by a federal judge in Newark on Thursday, March 21, won’t require Jose Gimenez-Lobos, a 33-year-old Salvadoran national, to serve more time. It will run concurrently. Gimenez-Lobos and two companions were ordered by a high-ranking member of La Mara Salvatrucha to execute a member of the rival 18th Street gang from the Maryland/Virginia area, U.S. Attorney …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Bogus Bean Counter Gets 5 Years For $1.5M Scam That Targeted NJ Schools, Nonprofits, More Bogus Bean Counter Gets 5 Years For $1.5M Scam That Targeted NJ Schools, Nonprofits, More
Bogus Bean Counter Gets 5 Years For $1.5M Scam That Targeted NJ Schools, Nonprofits, More 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: A Hoboken woman was sentenced to five years in federal prison for posing as an accountant to steal more than $1.5 million from nonprofits, private schools and religious institutions, among other victims across the state. Yezenia Castillo, 47, will have to serve at least 85% of her sentence -- a few months over four years -- because there's no parole in the federal prison system. From 2012 through 2021, Castillo "falsely claimed to be a CPA who could provide various financial and accounting services to non-profit organizations throughout New Jersey, including private schools and reli…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
WINNERS! Powerball Tickets Sold In Hunterdon, Essex Counties Score $50K WINNERS! Powerball Tickets Sold In Hunterdon, Essex Counties Score $50K
Winners! Powerball Tickets Sold In Hunterdon, Essex Counties Score $50K Powerball players in Essex County and Hunterdon County had a winning Wednesday. Tickets sold in Newark and Clinton matched four numbers and the red Powerball in the drawing held on Wednesday, March 20, winning $50,000. The tickets were sold at Amazonia Multiservice in Newark and Krauszer Food Mart in Clinton. The winning numbers were 13, 22, 27, 54, 66 and the red Powerball was 9.

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by Sam Barron
Police & Fire
NJ Woman Convicted By Federal Jurors Of Having Cocaine, Meth Fed-Exed To Her Home NJ Woman Convicted By Federal Jurors Of Having Cocaine, Meth Fed-Exed To Her Home
NJ Woman Convicted By Federal Jurors Of Having Cocaine, Meth Fed-Exed To Her Home 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: An Essex County woman who took her chances with a federal jury rather than accept a plea deal from the government was convicted of having cocaine FedExed to her apartment. Authorities intercepted two parcels addressed to "John Brown" in Newark in March 2021, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Mahogany Hawkins, 32, answered the door when an undercover officer posing as a FedEx driver delivered both of them, he said.Detectives knocked on the door again, identifying themselves as police this time, the U.S. attorney said.Hawkins said she was “getting dressed” and didn’t respon…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Thief Who Stole $1.5M Worth Of Luxury Cars In NJ, Rockland, Long Island, CT Gets 3½ Years Thief Who Stole $1.5M Worth Of Luxury Cars In NJ, Rockland, Long Island, CT Gets 3½ Years
Thief Who Stole $1.5M Worth Of Luxury Cars In NJ, Rockland, Long Island, CT Gets 3½ Years 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: The last of four men who admitted stealing more than $1.5 million worth of luxury cars in New Jersey, Rockland County, Long Island and Connecticut was sentenced to nearly 3½ years in federal prison. Malik Baker, 30, of Vauxhall, and his three co-conspirators stashed at least 10 of the vehicles at a central location in Irvington, NJ, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip Sellinger said. The Essex County-based quartet often used one stolen vehicle to swipe another, he added. In one instance, Sellinger said, the crew swiped a Maserati GranTurismo at the Jersey Shore in Manalapan an…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Morris Man Seized By FBI For Scamming Victims Out Of $3.4 Million With 'Debt Relief' Service Morris Man Seized By FBI For Scamming Victims Out Of $3.4 Million With 'Debt Relief' Service
Morris Man Seized By FBI For Scamming Victims Out Of $3.4 Million With 'Debt Relief' Service A restaurant owner who'd fallen $200,000 into the hole during COVID thought he'd gotten a lifeline from a Morris County man who ran a phony debt relief service that promised to reduce what he owed by 40 to 45 percent. Under a contract he was required to sign, the business owner agreed to pay $4,150 every two weeks for two years. It wasn't until he'd already forked over $150,000 that the victim finally got wise to Mark Csantaveri, a 51-year-old Morristown resident with an alleged gambling habit, federal authorities said. It turns out the restaurant owner was one of more than 50 victims…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Bayonne Detectives Sting Staten Island Man Selling Stolen Cars On Facebook Marketplace: Police Bayonne Detectives Sting Staten Island Man Selling Stolen Cars On Facebook Marketplace: Police
Bayonne Detectives Sting Staten Island Man Selling Stolen Cars On Facebook Marketplace: Police A Staten Island man was off to the races selling stolen cars on Facebook Marketplace when Bayonne detectives put the brakes on the operation, authorities said. Using bogus identification, Devonte A. Thomas, 23, recently raked in $26,650 that police know about as “Alazim Olasupo Odu, selling a 2013 Infiniti and two Hondas from 2019 and 2020, Bayonne Police Capt. Eric R. Amato said. One of the victims called police after crossing paths with Thomas while looking for another car, the captain said. After quickly confirming that the car Thomas was selling had been stolen out of Newark, detective…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Man Who Drove 12 Pounds Of Heroin, Fentanyl All The Way From Cali Busted In Bergen County: Feds Man Who Drove 12 Pounds Of Heroin, Fentanyl All The Way From Cali Busted In Bergen County: Feds
Man Who Drove 12 Pounds Of Heroin, Fentanyl All The Way From Cali Busted In Bergen County: Feds A California man was minutes from a dropoff after driving more than a dozen pounds of fentanyl and heroin cross country to New Jersey when he was stopped in Fort Lee for running a stop sign, authorities said. Timothy Alan Blank, 54, of Reseda, CA, made it 2,800 miles before Fort Lee police pulled his SUV over in Englewood Cliffs north of Sylvan and Myrtle avenues last Friday, March 8, according to a federal complaint. A Bergen County Sheriff's K-9 directed officers to the trunk, where it says they found the five kilos wrapped in five bricks. Blank collected the wrapped $195,000 of heroin a…

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by Jerry DeMarco