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New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs

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Illegal Botox, Lip Injections: NJ Spa Owner Fined $10K, Banned From Biz, AG Says Illegal Botox, Lip Injections: NJ Spa Owner Fined $10K, Banned From Biz, AG Says
Illegal Botox, Lip Injections: NJ Spa Owner Fined $10K, Banned From Biz, AG Says The owner of a Passaic County skincare spa has agreed to pay a $10,000 fine and accepted a 10-year ban in operating a similar business in New Jersey following allegations he provided invasive aesthetic treatments that she was not licensed to perform, officials said. Prompted by a tip from the public, an investigation found that Rasha Abdul N. Basuf, the former owner of the now-defunct Skyn Spa on Lakeview Avenue Clifton, unlawfully provided cosmetic services without the requisite professional licenses, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and the Division of Consumer Affairs sa…

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
License Revoked Of NJ Cardio Doc, 77, Accused Of Fondling Female Patients 51 To 80 Years Old License Revoked Of NJ Cardio Doc, 77, Accused Of Fondling Female Patients 51 To 80 Years Old
License Revoked Of NJ Cardio Doc, 77, Accused Of Fondling Female Patients 51 To 80 Years Old UPDATE: A North Jersey cardiologist who avoided two separate attempts to convict him of fondling and groping female patients had his medical license permanently revoked by the state, authorities announced on Friday. John Strobeck, 77, who had offices in Fair Lawn and Hawthorne, was acquitted in Superior Court in Paterson in 2019 of groping a 50-year-old female patient during an exam five years earlier. Prosecutors were gearing up for a return to the courtroom with several other alleged victims when Strobeck was allowed to enter a pre-trial intervention program that will allow him to clear h…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
NJ Revokes License Of Doctor After Child He Had With Cognitively Impaired Patient Comes Forward NJ Revokes License Of Doctor After Child He Had With Cognitively Impaired Patient Comes Forward
NJ Revokes License Of Doctor After Child He Had With Cognitively Impaired Patient Comes Forward An Essex County physician had sex with a cognitively impaired patient who bore his child in 1986, state authorities said Wednesday in announcing that his license had been revoked. Jashvant Amin became the subject of an investigation after the now-adult son he had with the woman filed a complaint, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said on Aug. 9. The investigation found “uncontroverted evidence” that Amin -- an internist and hematologist with an office in Orange -- had a sexual relationship with the complainant's mother, who was "cognitively impaired by …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Englewood Chiropractor Who Violated Patients Loses License For Good: State Attorney General Englewood Chiropractor Who Violated Patients Loses License For Good: State Attorney General
Englewood Chiropractor Who Violated Patients Loses License For Good: State Attorney General An Englewood chiropractor who inappropriately touched and made sexual comments to female patients has permanently lost his license, state authorities announced. The professional misconduct of Archer Irby, 51, of Leonia was “egregious, depraved, and predatory,” the New Jersey Board of Chiropractic Examiners said in permanently revoking his license. Irby was cleared of criminal charges several years ago, but Administrative Law Judge Thomas R. Betancourt this past April ruled that the doctor had violated four female patients at his Irby Spinal Care office in Englewood by: exposing himself to…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Authorities: Long Island Couple In $1 Million Securities Scam Targeted Elderly NJ Investors Authorities: Long Island Couple In $1 Million Securities Scam Targeted Elderly NJ Investors
Authorities: Long Island Couple In $1 Million Securities Scam Targeted Elderly NJ Investors Several New Jersey seniors were scammed out of more than $1 million combined by a Long Island couple, Garden State authorities have charged. Salvatore Magaraci, 63, and A. Kirsten Gallardo, 60, of Huntington, NY specifically targeted elderly victims to pitch unregistered securities to for a crooked – and now defunct -- company, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said. The Woodbridge Group of Companies purported to be a commercial lender that made hard-money loans secured by mortgages on commercial property. It ended up being ordered to pay $1 billion -- and saw its foun…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
‘Consent Is Not A Defense’: NJ Revokes Massage Therapist's License For Sexual Healing ‘Consent Is Not A Defense’: NJ Revokes Massage Therapist's License For Sexual Healing
‘Consent Is Not A Defense’: NJ Revokes Massage Therapist's License For Sexual Healing UPDATE: A New Jersey massage therapist acquitted by a jury of sexually assaulting a client still had his license permanently revoked, state authorities announced. Jurors found Asmar R. Berry, 43, of Trenton not guilty in 2019 of sex crimes after his attorney argued that the contact was consensual. Berry nonetheless “violated his duty as a massage therapist” through his actions, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said Wednesday. “Consent is not a defense” when it comes to violating regulations of the massage business, the attorney general said. Bruck said Berry’s actions al…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Five NJ Gas Stations Pay $138,000 For Overcharging Customers Five NJ Gas Stations Pay $138,000 For Overcharging Customers
Five NJ Gas Stations Pay $138,000 For Overcharging Customers Five North Jersey gas stations were caught overcharging customers -- including claiming that regular gas was premium -- and now must pay up, state authorities said. In a settlement aimed at protecting consumers, Sukhdev Singh and his stations in Newark and Belleville will pay the state more than $138,000 collectively, and promised not to do it again, under an agreement that kept formal charges from being filed, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said. Bruck identified the stations on Monday as: KP Fuel, 864 Mt. Prospect Ave, Newark; BK Fuel, 108 Bloomfield Ave, Newark; Mil…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
NJ Home Health Aide Accused Of Tying Patient, 71, To Chair Loses Certification NJ Home Health Aide Accused Of Tying Patient, 71, To Chair Loses Certification
NJ Home Health Aide Accused Of Tying Patient, 71, To Chair Loses Certification The certification of a home health aide from Pennsylvania accused of tying a 71-year-old dementia patient to a chair at a South Jersey assisted living facility was permanently revoked, authorities announced. A supervising registered nurse at the Juniper Village/Well Springs Assisted Living Facility in Monroe Township discovered the abused victim during a visit to her apartment at last fall, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said. The woman – who had round-the-clock health care -- had been “tied to a chair at the waist with a nightgown,” Bruck said. Afua Dankwah, 51, of Mo…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Mahwah-Based Florist Settles With State Over Wilted Flowers, Substitute Arrangement Complaints Mahwah-Based Florist Settles With State Over Wilted Flowers, Substitute Arrangement Complaints
Mahwah-Based Florist Settles With State Over Wilted Flowers, Substitute Arrangement Complaints A nationwide floral distributor based in Mahwah stiffed customers by delivering wilted arrangements and those different from what was ordered and refusing to compensate those who complained, state authorities charged. Avas Flowers avoided criminal charges by agreeing to improve its business practices and paying the state $60,000, following an investigation of alleged violations of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said. The multi-million-dollar company and its founder and CEO, Matthew Neuenhaus, also agreed to go to binding arbitration before state D…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
NJ Physicians Have State Licenses Pulled For Sexual Misconduct NJ Physicians Have State Licenses Pulled For Sexual Misconduct
NJ Physicians Have State Licenses Pulled For Sexual Misconduct A psychiatrist accused of sexually assaulting patients and two doctors who admitted doing so were permanently barred from practicing in New Jersey, authorities said Wednesday. Dr. Carl J. Renner, 66, of Glen Rock had previously pleaded guilty to charges that he intentionally touched six female patients “inappropriately and without legitimate medical purpose or their consent” during exams and procedures at his Hasbrouck Heights practice, state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said. Another doctor, Michael Tyshkov, 67, of Livingston, pleaded guilty to charges that he did the same to two fema…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
NJ: Hasbrouck Heights Used Car Dealer Pays $60,000 To Settle Consumer Protection Case NJ: Hasbrouck Heights Used Car Dealer Pays $60,000 To Settle Consumer Protection Case
NJ: Hasbrouck Heights Used Car Dealer Pays $60,000 To Settle Consumer Protection Case A Bergen County used car dealer is paying $60,000 to resolve violations of state consumer protection laws, authorities said. The state Division of Consumers had accused Bridge Auto Group in Hasbrouck Heights with: failing to include the mandatory disclosure language in advertisements; misrepresenting its Better Business Bureau and Yelp ratings on the company’s website; failing to disclose prior damage to its used vehicles when such information was known our should have been known by the dealership; charging consumers for pre-delivery services, including dealer preparation fees, without ite…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
LAWSUIT: Student Loan Giant Crippled NJ Borrowers, State Authorities Charge LAWSUIT: Student Loan Giant Crippled NJ Borrowers, State Authorities Charge
Lawsuit: Student Loan Giant Crippled NJ Borrowers, State Authorities Charge One of the nation’s largest student loan servicers has screwed young borrowers in New Jersey, state authorities charged Tuesday in a blockbuster lawsuit against Navient. This includes deliberately fooling some of them into paying back more money than was due at the time by lying about the amounts, they said. “Higher education should be a pathway to success, not a road to financial ruin,” Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said in announcing the suit's filing. “Even before the financial fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, too many New Jerseyans were struggling to pay off their student loans,…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Paramus School Therapist From Washington Township Loses License For Kissing, 'Sexting' Student Paramus School Therapist From Washington Township Loses License For Kissing, 'Sexting' Student
Paramus School Therapist From Washington Township Loses License For Kissing, 'Sexting' Student A Washington Township youth therapist had her license permanently revoked for making out and exchanging suggestive texts with a 17-year-boy she was counseling from a private Paramus High School, authorities said Wednesday. Tara Cardinale, 39, pleaded guilty to criminal sexual contact rather than go to trial following her arrest by members of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Special Victims Unit earlier this year. Cardinale, who worked at the Alliance Academy, agreed to the permanent revocation of her New Jersey license as a clinical social worker as a condition of the plea, Attorney General G…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
COVID Price Gougers Include Jersey Shore Biz That Marked Up Masks 600%, State Charges COVID Price Gougers Include Jersey Shore Biz That Marked Up Masks 600%, State Charges
COVID Price Gougers Include Jersey Shore Biz That Marked Up Masks 600%, State Charges A dozen COVID price gougers fined by the state include a Jersey Shore business that sold masks at a 600% markup, a Bergen County pharmacy that peddled at-home antibody tests and several other merchants who jacked up prices on bottled water, rice and other essentials, authorities announced Monday.  Performance Supply LLC made “false and misleading statements in advertising N95 mask respirators for sale to personnel from the New York City Office of Citywide Procurement,” New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said. The Manalapan-based business “misleadingly suggested the company i…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
NJ, NY, Feds Shut Down Sham Charity Operation That Scammed Donors Out Of Tens Of Millions NJ, NY, Feds Shut Down Sham Charity Operation That Scammed Donors Out Of Tens Of Millions
NJ, NY, Feds Shut Down Sham Charity Operation That Scammed Donors Out Of Tens Of Millions Kind-hearted donors in New Jersey and New York were scammed out of tens of millions of dollars by a telephone soliciting operation that claimed to raise money for homeless veterans, retired and disabled law enforcement officers, breast cancer survivors and others in need, authorities said Wednesday. A joint lawsuit filed by the state of New Jersey, the Federal Trade Commission and the attorneys general of New York, Minnesota and Virginia has permanently shut down the operation headed by Mark Gelvan, a telemarketing consultant who'd been banned for life from raising funds for charity more th…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Rubbing People The Wrong Way: More Massage Therapists Lose Licenses In NJ Rubbing People The Wrong Way: More Massage Therapists Lose Licenses In NJ
Rubbing People The Wrong Way: More Massage Therapists Lose Licenses In NJ New Jersey authorities this week revoked the license of the ninth massage therapist in the past year for “inappropriate and unwanted sexual contact” with a client who literally put her trust in his hands. John R. Popper, 48, of Little Egg Harbor was convicted earlier this year of harassment by offensive touching for placing his hand on a client’s vagina during a massage at Hand and Stone spa in Somers Point. In turn, the state Board of Massage and Bodywork Therapy permanently barred him from working as a massage therapist in New Jersey ever again because he “engaged in professional miscond…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Home Health Aide Caught On Hidden Camera Admits Physically Abusing Clifton Woman, 90 Home Health Aide Caught On Hidden Camera Admits Physically Abusing Clifton Woman, 90
Home Health Aide Caught On Hidden Camera Admits Physically Abusing Clifton Woman, 90 Faced with footage from a hidden camera, a home health aide from North Bergen admitted that she abused a 90-year-old patient in the bedridden woman’s Clifton home, authorities said Tuesday. Emma Llanes, 57, “put a cloth over the patient's face without reason, grabbed [her] by the back of the neck and pushed the patient’s head forward, slapped [her] legs and failed to assist the patient while getting dressed,” a complaint filed by the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs (DCA) says. The footage was captured by a hidden camera that the victim’s family obtained from the DCA’s Safe Care Cam …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Health Aide Charged With Sexually Abusing Patient, 84, At Jersey Shore Nursing Home Health Aide Charged With Sexually Abusing Patient, 84, At Jersey Shore Nursing Home
Health Aide Charged With Sexually Abusing Patient, 84, At Jersey Shore Nursing Home A health aide sexually abused an 84-year-old patient at an Ocean County long-term care facility, state authorities said. Authorities charged Michael A. Edwards, 32, of Manchester with aggravated sexual contact after officials at the Sunrise Senior Living facility in Jackson told police that another employee caught him “inappropriately touching an elderly woman in her room at the facility,” state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said. Edwards – also known as Michael Donaldson – was released pending court action and fired from the job, Grewal said. The state Division of Consumer Affairs al…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
AG: Passaic County Dentist, Morris County Health Club Make False Claims About Antibody Tests AG: Passaic County Dentist, Morris County Health Club Make False Claims About Antibody Tests
AG: Passaic County Dentist, Morris County Health Club Make False Claims About Antibody Tests State authorities have told a Passaic County dentist and Morris County health club to stop making false or misleading claims about coronavirus tests. Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said his office and the state Division of Consumer Affairs sent cease-and-desist letters telling each to stop claiming that they have antibody (“serological”) COVID-19 tests that can tell whether someone is immune from COVID-19. “Misinformation of this nature has the potential to provide false security to individuals and contribute, in the aggregate, to widespread public harm, and also violates New Jersey’s Co…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Obituaries
NJSP Security Guard, Mom Who Worked In Same Building Die Days Apart Of Coronavirus NJSP Security Guard, Mom Who Worked In Same Building Die Days Apart Of Coronavirus
Njsp Security Guard, Mom Who Worked In Same Building Die Days Apart Of Coronavirus A New Jersey State Police security guard and her mom who worked in the same Newark building reportedly died days apart of coronavirus. Latasha Andrews, 33, worked in the security operations unit of field operations and died of COVID-19 on April 24.  "The tragedy is compounded by her mother, Gloria Andrews who worked in the same building, passing from the same Covid-19 a day or 2 earlier," Frank Carmody wrote on NJSP's Facebook tribute. "Although I have been retired for 3 years I still remember her as a friendly but conscientious worker." Andrews began her career with NJSP i…

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
Morristown Adviser In Investment Scams Fined $750,000, Loses Registration Morristown Adviser In Investment Scams Fined $750,000, Loses Registration
Morristown Adviser In Investment Scams Fined $750,000, Loses Registration A Morristown investment adviser was fined $750,000 and had his registration pulled for selling more than $12 million of unregistered securities in New Jersey, some of which were tied to Ponzi schemes and other scams, state authorities said Tuesday. Gary Scheer, managing member and sole investment adviser representative of Retirement Financial Advisors, LLC in Morristown, recommended and sold unregistered securities to at least 50 investors from 2010 through 2018, state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said. He made more than $600,000 in commissions on the sales, which involved franchises, …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Parlor Tricks: NJ Pulls Allendale, Saddle River Massage Therapists’ Licenses In Sex Cases Parlor Tricks: NJ Pulls Allendale, Saddle River Massage Therapists’ Licenses In Sex Cases
Parlor Tricks: NJ Pulls Allendale, Saddle River Massage Therapists’ Licenses In Sex Cases Massage therapists working in Allendale and Saddle River were among five who recently had their licenses yanked by state authorities amid charges of rubbing certain customers the wrong way. State authorities announced the charges to help lay the groundwork for proposed new rules that they said are aimed at “preventing and detecting sexual misconduct in the industry.” The rules would, among other things: Require massage therapists to notify the state Board of Massage and Bodywork Therapy of criminal, civil, administrative, and employment actions against them; Require massage therapists to …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
U.S. Attorney: Elmwood Park Bait-And-Switch Movers Held Customers' Goods Hostage U.S. Attorney: Elmwood Park Bait-And-Switch Movers Held Customers' Goods Hostage
U.S. Attorney: Elmwood Park Bait-And-Switch Movers Held Customers' Goods Hostage The owners of an Elmwood Park moving company pulled bait-and-switches on helpless customers -- holding their valuables hostage -- before federal agents busted them, authorities said. For three years, Lola Larios 36, of Haledon, and Lior Atiyas, 42, of Long Island, took advantage of customers who “were in a vulnerable state and unable to refuse their demands,” U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. Larios and Atiyas – using the names “Michelle Jacobs” and “David Cohen” – gave customers low-ball quotes, then jacked up the prices two to three times after the valuables were loaded onto their Premi…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Hidden Cam Catches Caregiver Abusing Stroke Victim, 90, In Park Ridge, Authorities Charge Hidden Cam Catches Caregiver Abusing Stroke Victim, 90, In Park Ridge, Authorities Charge
Hidden Cam Catches Caregiver Abusing Stroke Victim, 90, In Park Ridge, Authorities Charge A hidden camera caught a home health aide assaulting a 90-year-old stroke victim at an assisted living facility in Park Ridge, said authorities who arrested her. The micro-surveillance “Safe Care Cam” unit caught Mitsou Gottheim, 50, of Nanuet on video “physically assaulting the elderly woman, who is bedridden and unable to communicate verbally because of a stroke,” Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said Wednesday. It is the first time that police charges have been filed against a caregiver as a result of video captured through the relatively-new state program, authorities said. Gottheim –…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
'Operation Mother's Attic': State Snags Six Rogue Moving Companies From Bergen, Passaic 'Operation Mother's Attic': State Snags Six Rogue Moving Companies From Bergen, Passaic
'Operation Mother's Attic': State Snags Six Rogue Moving Companies From Bergen, Passaic Four unlicensed moving companies from Bergen County and two from Passaic County were snagged in a state-led undercover sting that cost them $2,500 each, authorities announced Monday. Over the course of four days in April, investigators from the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs posed as people planning to move from an upscale neighborhood in Montvale in what was dubbed “Operation Mother’s Attic,” state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said. “The investigators found various unlicensed moving companies advertising online and hired them for their ‘move’,” Grewal said. “The movers drove…

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by Jerry DeMarco