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U.S. District Court in Newark, NJ

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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…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
North Jersey Man, 65, Admits Sharing Horrific Child Sex Videos, Including One Of Girl Under 5 North Jersey Man, 65, Admits Sharing Horrific Child Sex Videos, Including One Of Girl Under 5
North Jersey Man, 65, Admits Sharing Horrific Child Sex Videos, Including One Of Girl Under 5 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: A video of a girl believed to be 3 to 5 years old astride a shirtless, bearded tattooed man was among the evidence that apparently convinced a North Jersey retiree to plead guilty in federal court to trafficking child pornography, records show. The clip was among 65 videos and 250 images that Gaetano Lapegna, 65, had collected of "prepubescent children engaged in sexual acts with adults and other children," an agent with U.S. Homeland Security Investigations Newark cited in a complaint. Lapegna, of Sussex County, shared many of them with what turned out to be HSI agents, the complai…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
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…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Newark Rapper Tsu Surf Gets 5 Years, No Parole, For Leadership Role In Armed, Violent Drug Gang Newark Rapper Tsu Surf Gets 5 Years, No Parole, For Leadership Role In Armed, Violent Drug Gang
Newark Rapper Tsu Surf Gets 5 Years, No Parole, For Leadership Role In Armed, Violent Drug Gang Battle rapper Tsu Surf must spend a plea-bargained five years in federal prison for what authorities described as a leadership role in a violent drug-selling Newark street gang. The 32-year-old rapper – whose real name is Rahjon Cox -- was one of 10 reputed members of the Rollin’ 60s Neighborhood Crips charged under federal RICO statutes following a massive North Jersey roundup last year. A total of 42 targets in all were arrested in a series of pinpointed attacks on organized gangs dealing drugs, packing weapons and waging street warfare, federal authorities said at the time. Cox took a d…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Feds Indict Bergen Advisor For Stealing $3M From Senior Clients To Gamble, Buy Home, Gold Coins Feds Indict Bergen Advisor For Stealing $3M From Senior Clients To Gamble, Buy Home, Gold Coins
Feds Indict Bergen Advisor For Stealing $3M From Senior Clients To Gamble, Buy Home, Gold Coins A disgraced former broker and investment advisor is now under federal indictment for stealing more than $3 million from clients that authorities said he used to gamble and buy gold coins and a new house in Bergen County. Kenneth A. Welsh, 42, of River Edge, "used his position as an investment advisor to gain the trust of his victims," U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. "(He) then exploited that trust,” Sellinger said. Welsh was working at Wells Fargo Clearing Services in Fairfield when federal authorities said he began shifting money from clients' accounts to that he controlled in Ju…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Online NJ Romance Scammer Who Conned Woman Out Of $66,000 Gets More Than Two Years, No Parole Online NJ Romance Scammer Who Conned Woman Out Of $66,000 Gets More Than Two Years, No Parole
Online NJ Romance Scammer Who Conned Woman Out Of $66,000 Gets More Than Two Years, No Parole An Essex County man who helped swindle what he called a “filthy rich woman” out of nearly $66,000 in an online romance scam was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison. Mahmoud Bowler, 40, of Newark, and an unidentified co-conspirator whom he grew up with in Ghana double-teamed the Florida victim over the course of nearly three years after connecting with her on an online dating site using a bogus profile name. Bowler then turned around and screwed his partner, keeping the majority of the money that they'd collected from the victim, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Phillip R. Sellinger said. …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Teaneck Tax Preparer Busted By IRS In $32.6 Million COVID Fraud Teaneck Tax Preparer Busted By IRS In $32.6 Million COVID Fraud
Teaneck Tax Preparer Busted By IRS In $32.6 Million COVID Fraud A tax preparer from Teaneck was arrested Monday for illegally collecting more than $1 million for himself and $31.6 million for clients in tax refunds by filing fraudulent returns with the government, federal authorities said. Leon Haynes, 49, sought $124.8 million combined from the IRS in nearly 1,400 bogus tax formers that he filed claiming COVID-related employment tax credits, said U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger and Acting Deputy U.S. Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg. "Based on Haynes’ false claims about his own companies, the U.S. Treasury mailed him multiple tax re…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Ex-Boy Scouts Camp Worker Trafficked Child Porn, Secretly Recorded Boys In Bathroom: Feds Ex-Boy Scouts Camp Worker Trafficked Child Porn, Secretly Recorded Boys In Bathroom: Feds
Ex-Boy Scouts Camp Worker Trafficked Child Porn, Secretly Recorded Boys In Bathroom: Feds A former employee at New Jersey Boy Scout camps secretly recorded videos of children using bathrooms there, federal authorities said. William Mickel, 69, of Lake Hopatcong, was originally arrested by local authorities on child porn charges, but the FBI assumed jurisdiction and gathered evidence that led to an indictment returned by a grand jury in U.S. District Court in Newark. A judge there ordered on Thursday, May 4, that Mickel remain in federal custody pending trial on one count each of distribution and possession of child pornography. Mickel was employed by the Boy Scouts of America w…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Three-Time North Jersey Bank Robber Convicted Of Cellphone Store Holdup Three-Time North Jersey Bank Robber Convicted Of Cellphone Store Holdup
Three-Time North Jersey Bank Robber Convicted Of Cellphone Store Holdup An ex-con from Essex County who served 13½ years in federal prison for holding up banks in Fair Lawn, Clifton and Belleville within weeks of one another was convicted Monday of robbing an East Orange cellphone store at gunpoint just two months after his release. Kenneth Graham, 50, of Newark, was wearing a black mask and blue jeans when he entered the downtown Boost Mobile store on Central Avenue and announced a robbery in the middle of the afternoon on Jan. 18, 2021, federal prosecutors said. Graham pointed a gun at a store employee, who was ordered to place several cell phones from a dis…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Leader Of Jersey City Drug Crew Sentenced To More Than 4 Years Without Parole Leader Of Jersey City Drug Crew Sentenced To More Than 4 Years Without Parole
Leader Of Jersey City Drug Crew Sentenced To More Than 4 Years Without Parole The leader of a crew that slung cocaine and heroin in the Greenville section of Jersey City was sentenced to more than four years in federal prison. Jerome Powell, 43, must serve just about all of the plea-bargained 51-month sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. He and four accused members worked in the area of Columbia Park, moving the drugs from an undisclosed stash house to a home on Bartholdi Avenue that servied buyers, according to a DEA complaint on file in U.S. District Court in Newark. Authorities built a case by recording street deals and picking off buy…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Feds: Convicted Child Porn Collector From Somerset County, 67, Admits Doing It Again Feds: Convicted Child Porn Collector From Somerset County, 67, Admits Doing It Again
Feds: Convicted Child Porn Collector From Somerset County, 67, Admits Doing It Again A 67-year-old Somerset County man previously convicted of collecting child porn faces a minimum 10-year federal prison sentence after admitting on Monday that he'd done it again, federal authorities said. John Schulenburg of Basking Ridge shared images with what turned out to be an undercover detective in July 2019, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Investigators raided Schulenburg's home four months later, seizing a computer that Sellinger said "contained hundreds of images and videos of child sexual abuse, including images of prepubescent children." Schulenburg was previously convi…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Feds: Ex-Owner, CEO 'Pilfered' $3.9M From Bergen Pharma Company To Fund Lavish Lifestyle Feds: Ex-Owner, CEO 'Pilfered' $3.9M From Bergen Pharma Company To Fund Lavish Lifestyle
Feds: Ex-Owner, CEO 'Pilfered' $3.9M From Bergen Pharma Company To Fund Lavish Lifestyle The former founder and CEO of a Bergen County pharmaceutical firm embezzled $3.9 million from the business to help pay credit card charges, property taxes and his kid's private school tuition, an indictment returned by a federal grand jury on Friday says. John Klein, 76, was arrested by federal agents last December. By that point, he'd been sued in federal court by several people with whom he either worked or collected investment money from at Cambridge Therapeutic Technologies in Teaneck, records show. Klein -- now of Tampa, Florida -- "looted and pilfered" the company to fund a "lavish" …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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13 Chinese Nationals Charged With Multiple Acts Of Espionage By Feds In Washington, NJ, NY 13 Chinese Nationals Charged With Multiple Acts Of Espionage By Feds In Washington, NJ, NY
13 Chinese Nationals Charged With Multiple Acts Of Espionage By Feds In Washington, NJ, NY Thirteen people, including members of China’s security and intelligence services, have been charged with trying to recruit professors and others in the United States to act as agents for their country, federal authorities in New York, New Jersey and Washington, DC announced. Tales of international intrigue include allegations that the defendants plotted to steal documents from a federal prosecutor's office to subvert a criminal investigation into a major Chinese company. Some of them are also charged in a spy-versus-spy encounter involving a $41,000 bribe in Bitcoin paid to an American…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Gang Leader Gets 22 Years Without Parole For Smuggling Heroin, Fentanyl Into NJ Prison Gang Leader Gets 22 Years Without Parole For Smuggling Heroin, Fentanyl Into NJ Prison
Gang Leader Gets 22 Years Without Parole For Smuggling Heroin, Fentanyl Into NJ Prison A Hudson County gang leader must spend the next 22 years in a federal penitentiary for trafficking heroin and fentanyl into a New Jersey state prison. Noel "Kuko" Salgado, 41, was serving time when he had associates on the outside sneak the drugs into Bayside State Prison in Leesburg (Cumberland County), federal authorities said. One inmate who used the smuggled drugs suffered an overdose and was revived with Narcan after remaining senseless for nearly 20 minutes before having to be hospitalized, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Salgado -- who headed the "Loyal Hoody Gang," a l…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Brick City Bribery: Newark Councilman Admits Taking Kickbacks Brick City Bribery: Newark Councilman Admits Taking Kickbacks
Brick City Bribery: Newark Councilman Admits Taking Kickbacks A sitting Newark councilman admitted pocketing payoffs in exchange for influence, federal authorities said. West Ward Councilman Joseph A. McCallum Jr., 66, schemed to receive under-the-table bribes and kickbacks from consultant Malik Frederick, an FBI complaint on file in U.S. District Court in Newark says. The kickbacks were "funded by developers, contracting companies, and other businesses seeking contracts and approvals principally related to development, construction, and real estate projects and deals in Newark,” U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Frederick solicited the de…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Feds: Newark Ex-Con Wanted On Gun Charge Caught Carrying Another Feds: Newark Ex-Con Wanted On Gun Charge Caught Carrying Another
Feds: Newark Ex-Con Wanted On Gun Charge Caught Carrying Another A Newark police detective who frisked an ex-con suspected of firing and then tossing a gun found him carrying another one, federal authorities said. Kevin Hills, 21, had been seen on surveillance video shooting what turned out to be a 9mm Jiminez semiautomatic pistol after he got out of a sedan on Chadwick Avenue near Clinton Avenue last June, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Officers in the area found the gun after one of them reported hearing the shots, he said. A warranted search of the Lincoln LS that Hills had gotten out of turned up 64 rounds of various ammunition, according t…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Alleged Police Brutality Victim From Paterson Arrested After Eluding, Resisting, Sheriff Says Alleged Police Brutality Victim From Paterson Arrested After Eluding, Resisting, Sheriff Says
Alleged Police Brutality Victim From Paterson Arrested After Eluding, Resisting, Sheriff Says An alleged Paterson police brutality victim fled a traffic stop and then scuffled with Passaic County sheriff's officers who tracked him down at a nearby deli, authorities said. Osamah Alsaidi, 21, was stopped for an unspecified violation on Madison Avenue shortly after 2 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 27, Passaic County Sheriff Richard Berdnik said. Alsaidi "argued with the officer and then fled the scene in the vehicle," the sheriff said. Officers spotted the vehicle outside the Grab & Go Deli and found Alsaidi inside the Getty Avenue store, Berdnik said. They had to subdue him "after he trie…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Paterson Man Admits Laundering $1.94 Million For Drug Cartels Paterson Man Admits Laundering $1.94 Million For Drug Cartels
Paterson Man Admits Laundering $1.94 Million For Drug Cartels A Paterson man admitted in federal court on Friday that he laundered nearly $2 million for Central and South American drug cartels operating in New Jersey and New York, authorities said. Julio De La Cruz Acosta, 42, accepted the cash to buy 67 cashier’s checks at banks in and around New Jersey and elsewhere, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. He was one of a half-dozen residents from the area accused of laundering more than $27 million for the cartels, Sellinger said. Morristown police helped the DEA and IRS crack the case, in which the defendants and other conspirators converted cash…

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by Jerry DeMarco