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Feds Praise Leonia PD After Ringleader Of International Call-Center Phone Scam Gets 20 Years Feds Praise Leonia PD After Ringleader Of International Call-Center Phone Scam Gets 20 Years
Feds Praise Leonia PD After Ringleader Of International Call-Center Phone Scam Gets 20 Years A worldwide investigation that produced a 20-year federal prison sentence for an Indian national who ran call centers that defrauded Americans across the U.S. out of millions of dollars got a huge boost from police in Leonia. Leonia Detective Michael Jennings, in particular, did legwork that helped federal authorities eventually identify Hitesh Madhubhai Patel, 44, as the ringleader of the transnational scheme. For that reason, police in the Bergen County borough near the George Washington Bridge got a shout-out from the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday. It began in 2015 when Jennings …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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'Rotten' Apple Pays NJ $3 Million To Settle iPhone Rip-Off Complaint 'Rotten' Apple Pays NJ $3 Million To Settle iPhone Rip-Off Complaint
'Rotten' Apple Pays NJ $3 Million To Settle iPhone Rip-Off Complaint New Jersey is getting more than $3 million from Apple as part of a settlement of charges that it hid and lied about a defect with million of iPhones that made customers buy new ones, authorities announced Wednesday. A multi-state investigation led to a complaint accusing the electronics giant of hiding unexpected power-offs (UPOs), battery health and performance issues, as well as software upgrades that slowed down or “throttled” performance, state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said. Apple doesn't admit to any violations of the law under the $113 million settlement reached with 34 state…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Clifton Man Gets 5 Years In Fed Pen For Multi-Million-Dollar Email Scheme Clifton Man Gets 5 Years In Fed Pen For Multi-Million-Dollar Email Scheme
Clifton Man Gets 5 Years In Fed Pen For Multi-Million-Dollar Email Scheme UPDATE: A Clifton man must spend the next five years in federal prison for a massive emailing scheme that conned businesses and individuals out of more than $1 million. In addition to the prison term, a federal judge in Trenton sentenced Lawrence Espaillat, 42, to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay restitution of $1.7 million and forfeit $12,000. Espaillat must serve the entire term for his guilty plea to conspiracy to commit wire fraud because there’s no parole in the federal prison system. Espaillat previously admitted working with co-conspirators Corry Pringley and…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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COVID-19: One State Added To NY/NJ/CT Quarantine List COVID-19: One State Added To NY/NJ/CT Quarantine List
Covid-19: One State Added To NY/NJ/CT Quarantine List Travelers from one state have been added to the COVID-19 joint quarantine list of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The new state added on Tuesday, Oct. 6 is New Mexico. No areas have been removed from the advisory list of 33 states and two territories. The quarantine applies to any person arriving from a state with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a seven-day rolling average or a state with a 10 percent or higher positivity rate over a seven-day rolling average. Data indicates that new cases per 100,000 residents in New Mexico now average close to 11. T…

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by Joe Lombardi
News
Feds Charge More Than 300 In U.S. With Violent Crimes ‘Under Guise’ Of Peaceful Protests Feds Charge More Than 300 In U.S. With Violent Crimes ‘Under Guise’ Of Peaceful Protests
Feds Charge More Than 300 In U.S. With Violent Crimes ‘Under Guise’ Of Peaceful Protests More than 300 “violent opportunists” nationwide are being prosecuted federally for crimes committed “under the guise of peaceful demonstrations” against racial injustice, the U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday. They include a saboteur who inadvertently engulfed himself in flames when he poured liquid from a gas can onto three U.S. Supreme Court vehicles in Washington, D.C., the department said in a release. Several defendants “leveraged social media platforms to incite destruction and assaults against law enforcement officers,” the release says. Nearly three dozen defendants are ch…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Police: Lyndhurst Tenant Whose Rifle Discharged Into Neighbor’s Home Had 13 Illegal Guns, Mags Police: Lyndhurst Tenant Whose Rifle Discharged Into Neighbor’s Home Had 13 Illegal Guns, Mags
Police: Lyndhurst Tenant Whose Rifle Discharged Into Neighbor’s Home Had 13 Illegal Guns, Mags A Lyndhurst man who told police he was cleaning his rifle when it accidentally fired a bullet through his door into another apartment had more than a dozen illegal weapons, as well as high-capacity magazines, authorities said. A family of three who live across the hall from Sean F. Sena, 26, at the Union apartment complex were home when the gun went off Sunday night, but no one was injured, Detective Lt. Vincent Auteri said. Police responding to the shooting at the Wall Street West complex found Sena had eight rifles, three handguns and two shotguns, along with 13 large-capacity ammunition …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
COVID-19: Five States Added To NY/NJ/CT Quarantine List COVID-19: Five States Added To NY/NJ/CT Quarantine List
Covid-19: Five States Added To NY/NJ/CT Quarantine List Travelers from five states have been added to the COVID-19 joint quarantine list of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The new states added on Tuesday, Sept. 22 are Arizona, Minnesota, Nevada, Rhode Island, and Wyoming. No states or territories have been removed. The quarantine applies to any person arriving from a state with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a seven-day rolling average or a state with a 10 percent or higher positivity rate over a seven-day rolling average. Those who have traveled to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut from those area…

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by Joe Lombardi
News
Feds: NJ Firm Pays $345G For Short-Changing Foreign Nationals In Trump-Opposed Visa Program Feds: NJ Firm Pays $345G For Short-Changing Foreign Nationals In Trump-Opposed Visa Program
Feds: NJ Firm Pays $345G For Short-Changing Foreign Nationals In Trump-Opposed Visa Program A Middlesex County staffing firm has agreed to pony up $345,000 to settle federal allegations that it underpaid highly-skilled foreign nationals who were brought to the U.S. to work under a special visa program currently under fire from the Trump Administration. Edison-based Savantis Solutions didn’t admit or deny the Justice Department’s allegations, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Craig Carpenito said. Instead, it agreed to pay back wages and interest to current and former company employees who entered the United States on H-1B visas. Although federal authorities didn’t specify their nation…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
COVID-19: Six States Removed From NY/NJ/CT Quarantine List, Puerto Rico Added COVID-19: Six States Removed From NY/NJ/CT Quarantine List, Puerto Rico Added
Covid-19: Six States Removed From NY/NJ/CT Quarantine List, Puerto Rico Added Travelers from six states have been removed from the COVID-19 joint quarantine list of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. California, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, and Ohio were removed from the Travel Advisory List on Tuesday, Sept. 15. Puerto Rico was added to the list. The quarantine applies to any person arriving from a state with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a seven-day rolling average or a state with a 10 percent or higher positivity rate over a seven-day rolling average. Those who have traveled to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut from …

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by Joe Lombardi
News
COVID-19: Travelers From Four States Added To NY/NJ/CT Quarantine List COVID-19: Travelers From Four States Added To NY/NJ/CT Quarantine List
Covid-19: Travelers From Four States Added To NY/NJ/CT Quarantine List Travelers from four more states have been added to the COVID-19 joint quarantine list of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The new states added on Tuesday, Sept. 8 are Delaware, Maryland, Ohio and West Virginia. Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands have been removed. The quarantine applies to any person arriving from a state with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a seven-day rolling average or a state with a 10 percent or higher positivity rate over a seven-day rolling average. Those who have traveled to New York, New Jersey and Conne…

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by Joe Lombardi
News
COVID Flight: New Jersey, New York Lead US In Out-Of-State Moves, CT Close Behind, Survey Says COVID Flight: New Jersey, New York Lead US In Out-Of-State Moves, CT Close Behind, Survey Says
COVID Flight: New Jersey, New York Lead US In Out-Of-State Moves, CT Close Behind, Survey Says New Jersey and New York are leading the nation in the percentage of household relocations to other states, driven by the “new normal” of the coronavirus pandemic, a recent survey shows. A whopping 69% of all New Jersey residents who moved from March 1 to Aug. 19 relocated out of state, UniGroup reports. That’s just about 7 of every 10. New York is close behind at 67%, with Connecticut fourth at 64%. Residents from New Jersey and New York mostly moved to suburbs and smaller towns in Florida, Texas and other Sunbelt states between March and July, Bloomberg reported. Vermont, Idaho, Oregon a…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
COVID-19: Five States Removed From NY/NJ/CT Quarantine List, One Territory Added COVID-19: Five States Removed From NY/NJ/CT Quarantine List, One Territory Added
Covid-19: Five States Removed From NY/NJ/CT Quarantine List, One Territory Added Travelers from five states have been removed from the COVID-19 joint quarantine list of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. This marks the first week since the list was started on Thursday, June 25, when eight states were initially named, that no new states with high COVID positivity testing rates have been added. However, one new territory has been added: Guam. The five states removed on Tuesday, Aug. 25 are Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, Maryland and Montana. The quarantine applies to any person arriving from a state with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents …

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by Joe Lombardi