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Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Security Investigations

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NO CHOICE: Ex-Con Who Shot Victims Five Days Apart In Newark Gets 10+ Years, No Early Release NO CHOICE: Ex-Con Who Shot Victims Five Days Apart In Newark Gets 10+ Years, No Early Release
NO Choice: Ex-Con Who Shot Victims Five Days Apart In Newark Gets 10+ Years, No Early Release 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: There’s no trying to present a defense in court when the prosecutors have a video of you shooting someone, as well as the loaded gun you were carrying when they arrested you. So Ex-con Antoine Hawkins, 31, of Newark, took a deal from the government and was formally sentenced to 12 years in federal prison on Friday, May 31, for shooting two victims five days apart in the Brick City in August 2020. Hawkins must serve no less than 10 years of his plea-bargained sentence before he'll be eligible for release because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Surveillance video…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
CYBERFOOTSIES: Ex-NJ Couple, Money Washer Confess $4.5M Online Romance Scam CYBERFOOTSIES: Ex-NJ Couple, Money Washer Confess $4.5M Online Romance Scam
Cyberfootsies: Ex-NJ Couple, Money Washer Confess $4.5M Online Romance Scam UPDATE: A former New Jersey couple and a local businesswoman have admitted scamming more than 100 lonely hearts out of $4.5 million in an elaborate online romance scheme, federal authorities charged. Martins Inalegwu, 35, took a deal from the government, pleading guilty in U.S. District Court in Camden on Monday, March 25 to conducting an unlawful money-transmitting business and evading taxes for four straight years. Inalegwu's wife, Steincy Mathieu, 27, had already pleaded guilty to tax evasion last November.  Oluwaseyi Fatolu, 56, of Springfield, followed her by admitting this past …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Saudi National Who Drove Stolen NJ School Bus To PA Indicted By Federal Grand Jury Saudi National Who Drove Stolen NJ School Bus To PA Indicted By Federal Grand Jury
Saudi National Who Drove Stolen NJ School Bus To PA Indicted By Federal Grand Jury A college student from Saudi Arabia who stole a school bus in Livingston, NJ, and drove it nearly 60 miles to Stroudsburg, PA, has been indicted by a federal grand jury, authorities said. Bader Alzahrani, a 22-year-old divorced sophomore who attends an undisclosed college, broke into a vacant home across the street from a Livingston Board of Education parking lot on Hill Side Avenue where the bus was parked on Jan. 15, the indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Newark says. The district reported the bus stolen two days later. Police found a backpack with a Saudi Arabian passport bea…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Love At First Site: Ex-NJ Couple, Nigerian Wingman Charged In $4.5M Cyberfootsies Scam Love At First Site: Ex-NJ Couple, Nigerian Wingman Charged In $4.5M Cyberfootsies Scam
Love At First Site: Ex-NJ Couple, Nigerian Wingman Charged In $4.5M Cyberfootsies Scam A former New Jersey couple and a Nigerian national scammed more than 100 lonely hearts out of $4.5 million in an elaborate online romance scheme, federal authorities charged. Martins Inalegwu, 34, of Philadelphia and Steincy Mathieu, 26, of Brooklyn cooked up the plot with Moses Chukwuebuka Alexander and several of his Nigerian brethren, an indictment returned by a federal grand jury alleges. Together, they trolled online dating and social media sites for willing marks, whom they “wooed with words of love” on the phone and in emails, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. T…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Hudson County Man Admits Getting Kids, Dad To Send Homemade Porn That He Shared On Social Hudson County Man Admits Getting Kids, Dad To Send Homemade Porn That He Shared On Social
Hudson County Man Admits Getting Kids, Dad To Send Homemade Porn That He Shared On Social A Union City man admitted getting two underage victims and a pedophile dad in the Dominican Republic to send him homemade child porn that he then shared on social media, federal authorities said. Posing as a teenage boy, Ramon Zelaya, 36, used an Instagram account to persuade a minor to send him a "revealing" photo, then used that to "entice, threaten, and coerce" the victim into sending him sexually explicit videos and other images, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Zelaya also conspired with an unidentified individual in the Dominican Republic on Facebook to sexually abuse that pers…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Convicted NJ Sex Offender Charged With Trafficking Child Porn Convicted NJ Sex Offender Charged With Trafficking Child Porn
Convicted NJ Sex Offender Charged With Trafficking Child Porn A retired Marine from South Jersey who'd previously been convicted of having sex with an underage Pennsylvania girl was arrested by federal agents on child porn charges, authorities said. A U.S. District Court judge in Camden released Matthew Knapp, 38, of Lindenwold, on an unsecured bond following his arrest by Homeland Security Investigations agents last week, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced on Monday, Feb. 27. The agents found Knapp sharing the images from his home, the U.S. attorney said. A warranted search of the residence produced the seizure of, among other things, “a co…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Federal Fort Lee Fentanyl Bust: Manhattan Man, 64, Could Get 10 Years Without Parole Federal Fort Lee Fentanyl Bust: Manhattan Man, 64, Could Get 10 Years Without Parole
Federal Fort Lee Fentanyl Bust: Manhattan Man, 64, Could Get 10 Years Without Parole A 64-year-old Manhattan man busted by federal Homeland Security agents for dealing nearly a pound of a drug mixture that contained fentanyl in Fort Lee took a guilty plea Tuesday rather than risk the outcome of a trial. U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo scheduled sentencing for June 21 after Jose Migel Cleto pleaded guilty in Newark on Jan. 31 to distribution and possession with the intent to distribute fentanyl, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Cleto could still get 10 years, which has become a federal mandatory minimum for fentanyl trafficking -- a crime that prosecutors and j…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Saudi National Who Drove Stolen NJ School Bus To PA Kept Anti-Semitic Journals: Feds Saudi National Who Drove Stolen NJ School Bus To PA Kept Anti-Semitic Journals: Feds
Saudi National Who Drove Stolen NJ School Bus To PA Kept Anti-Semitic Journals: Feds A college student from Saudi Arabia who stole a school bus in Livingston, NJ, and drove it nearly 60 miles to Stroudsburg, PA, kept anti-Semitic journals, federal authorities said. Bader Alzahrani, a 22-year-old divorced sophomore who attends an undisclosed college, is accused of first breaking into a vacant home across the street from a Livingston Board of Education parking lot on Hill Side Avenue where the bus was parked. The district reported the bus stolen on Jan. 17, two days after the residential break-in, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. Police found a backpack…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Feds: Female Duo Admits Dealing Meth Throughout South Jersey Feds: Female Duo Admits Dealing Meth Throughout South Jersey
Feds: Female Duo Admits Dealing Meth Throughout South Jersey Two women caught trafficking meth through South Jersey took plea deals rather than risk federal prosecution, authorities said. Sherri Craig, 42, of Clementon, New Jersey, and Shannon Foster, 27, of Egg Harbor City, formally agreed on Thursday, Oct. 13, to mandatory five-year minimum sentences -- and possibly more time. All of it must be served because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Several federal agencies teamed up to investigate Craig and Foster, who "regularly" bought methamphetamine from suppliers and conspired with each other, and others, to deal it throughout the so…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Federal Child Porn Charges Brought Against Fort Lee-Based Lawyer From Westchester Federal Child Porn Charges Brought Against Fort Lee-Based Lawyer From Westchester
Federal Child Porn Charges Brought Against Fort Lee-Based Lawyer From Westchester A lawyer who's served as general counsel for the operator of a large chain of health care facilities in New Jersey was charged federally with transporting lewd images of children taken at his Westchester County home, authorities said. Androsky Lugo, 52, already was facing local child-porn production charges brought by police in Eastchester and the Westchester County District Attorney's Office when he was charged federally, records show. Lugo, who was executive vice president and general counsel for CareOne, worked in Fort Lee, authorities said. According to U.S. Attorney Philip R. Selling…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Federal Judge Fines Mahwah Company $67,668 For Jacking Up Price Of N95 Masks By 400% Federal Judge Fines Mahwah Company $67,668 For Jacking Up Price Of N95 Masks By 400%
Federal Judge Fines Mahwah Company $67,668 For Jacking Up Price Of N95 Masks By 400% A Mahwah-based company that admitted selling N95 protective masks at a 400% markup to a grocery store chain at the beginning of the pandemic was fined $67,668 by a federal judge. TSC Agency LLC -- a logistics and freight forwarding company located off southbound Route 17 near the State Line Diner -- will also remain on probation for a year under the terms of a plea deal with the government, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said on Tuesday, April 26. TSC and two partners bought 250,000 of the filtering facepiece respirators at $1.09 apiece mask from a foreign manufacturer in mid-March 2020…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Feds: NJ High School Food Service Worker Had 1,673 Child Porn Files Feds: NJ High School Food Service Worker Had 1,673 Child Porn Files
Feds: NJ High School Food Service Worker Had 1,673 Child Porn Files A New Jersey high school food service worker was caught trafficking child porn, federal authorities said. Ezra W. Saphire, 29, of West Orange, was working at a high school in East Hanover (Morris County) when investigators found 1,014 video files and 659 still images of child sexual abuse, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. "These files included multiple visual depictions of prepubescent children being sexually abused by adults," the U.S. attorney said. Special agents of the Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Security Investigations arrested Saphire on Thursday, March 10, and …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Ex-Con In Philly Posed As Lawyer To Scam Fellow Immigrants, Feds Charge Ex-Con In Philly Posed As Lawyer To Scam Fellow Immigrants, Feds Charge
Ex-Con In Philly Posed As Lawyer To Scam Fellow Immigrants, Feds Charge An East African-born ex-con who lives in Philadelphia posed as an immigration attorney, scamming clients desperate to remain in America, federal authorities in New Jersey charged. In what immigration advocates say has become an all-too-familiar crime, Luc Fikiri Matthews, 47, misrepresented himself "in order to attract business from noncitizens who did not have legal permanent resident status in the United States," an indictment returned by a grand jury in Camden alleges. Matthews then prepared phony paperwork for these clients -- who otherwise would have been deported -- which made them e…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Feds: Price-Gouging Mahwah Company Admits Giving ‘Mask Up’ New Meaning Feds: Price-Gouging Mahwah Company Admits Giving ‘Mask Up’ New Meaning
Feds: Price-Gouging Mahwah Company Admits Giving ‘Mask Up’ New Meaning Representatives of a Mahwah-based company admitted selling N95 protective masks at a 400% markup to a grocery store chain at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, federal authorities said. TSC Agency and two partners bought 250,000 of the filtering facepiece respirators at $1.09 apiece mask from a foreign manufacturer in mid-March 2020, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael Honig said. TSC then sold 100,000 of the masks to the unidentified chain for $5.25 each, violating federal price-gouging laws, she said. The logistics company – located on Lethbridge Plaza off southbound Route 17 near the S…

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by Jerry DeMarco