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Office of Victim-Witness Advocacy

Gravestone Scammer Targets Murder Victim's Vineland Mom: 'Sick To My Stomach' Gravestone Scammer Targets Murder Victim's Vineland Mom: 'Sick To My Stomach'
Gravestone Scammer Targets Murder Victim's Vineland Mom: 'Sick To My Stomach' A mom who fell victim to a New Jersey headstone scammer just after she buried her 31-year-old son last year is sharing her story in hopes of putting a stop to a man she says should've been stopped long ago. Nearly a month after Luz Vasquez's son, Chad Stuart, was killed outside of a Vineland bar in September 2022, she was contacted by Gregory Stefan, Jr., who explained he was the owner of Colonial Memorials, a headstone company.  And he wanted Vasquez as a client. Vasquez set up a meeting with Stefan in her Vineland home on Oct. 21, 2022. "He was a professional man, and seemed sympatheti…
60-Year Sentence For Newton Ex-Con In 'Unspeakably Tragic' Hunterdon County Stabbing 60-Year Sentence For Newton Ex-Con In 'Unspeakably Tragic' Hunterdon County Stabbing
60-Year Sentence For Newton Ex-Con In 'Unspeakably Tragic' Hunterdon County Stabbing A Newton ex-con is heading back to prison — this time, for the deadly stabbing of a 38-year-old woman in Hunterdon County, authorities announced Wednesday, August 23. Brandon E. Petersen, 33, was sentenced Tuesday, August 22 to an aggregate 60-year state prison term subject to the No Early Release Act, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renée M. Robeson said. Petersen, who previously spent more than eight years behind bars for stabbing a neighbor during a robbery, will have to serve 85 percent of his sentence (51 years) before he is eligible for parole. The ex-con was found guilty of fi…