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U.S. Postal Inspection Service

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Suspicious White Powder Sent To Election Offices Across Country — Including NY Suspicious White Powder Sent To Election Offices Across Country — Including NY
Suspicious White Powder Sent To Election Offices Across Country — Including NY A package with a suspicious white substance was intercepted at a United States Post Office in Connecticut earlier this week and could be part of a much larger scheme to disrupt or scare election workers ahead of election day, authorities said.  The package was found at a West Hartford post office on Monday, Sept. 16, the Connecticut Secretary of State said in a news release. No one was injured, but the contents were sent to a lab for testing.  Election offices in New York, Tennessee, Wyoming, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Indiana, Massachusetts, …

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by Josh Lanier
News
COVID-19: Owner Of NY Theme Park, Restaurant Admits Stealing $3.2M In Federal Aid COVID-19: Owner Of NY Theme Park, Restaurant Admits Stealing $3.2M In Federal Aid
Covid-19: Owner Of NY Theme Park, Restaurant Admits Stealing $3.2M In Federal Aid A man who owns a theme park and restaurant in New York has admitted to stealing over $3 million through federal COVID-19 aid with some of those funds used to buy a home on Nantucket. Long Island resident Donald Finley, age 61, of Roslyn, the owner of Jekyll & Hyde Restaurant in Manhattan and the Bayville Adventure Park in Nassau County, pleaded guilty to disaster relief fraud and wire fraud on Thursday, May 25. As stated in court filings by the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace: Between March 2020 and March 2021, amid the COVID pandemic, Finley fra…

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by Joe Lombardi
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NY Man Sentenced For Role In $12M Ponzi Scheme Targeting Nearly 50 Victims NY Man Sentenced For Role In $12M Ponzi Scheme Targeting Nearly 50 Victims
NY Man Sentenced For Role In $12M Ponzi Scheme Targeting Nearly 50 Victims A New York man was sentenced for his role in a $12 million Ponzi scheme that targeted nearly 50 victims from throughout the region and the nation between 2015 and 2017. Long Island resident Matthew Eckstein, age 52, of Syosset, was sentenced on Monday, July 11 to three-and-a-half to 10-and-a-half years in prison. Eckstein originally pleaded guilty to the charges on September 26, 2019, but later withdrew his plea. A new indictment was secured in August 2020, but court closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic further delayed the case. “This defendant preyed upon seniors and hard-working men…

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by Joe Lombardi
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Ex-Trump Strategist Steve Bannon Was On Yacht Off CT Coast When Arrested For Defrauding Donors Ex-Trump Strategist Steve Bannon Was On Yacht Off CT Coast When Arrested For Defrauding Donors
Ex-Trump Strategist Steve Bannon Was On Yacht Off CT Coast When Arrested For Defrauding Donors Steve Bannon, the former chief strategist for President Donald Trump, was aboard a yacht off the Connecticut coast when he was arrested and taken into custody for allegedly defrauding hundreds of thousands of donors. Bannon was on the yacht named "Lady May" off Westbrook, in Middlesex County, Connecticut on Thursday morning, Aug. 20 when six federal agents representing the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and a member of the United States Coast Guard who were aboard a Coast Guard marine unit arrived to serve Bannon his s…

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by Joe Lombardi
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Drug Ring Sold THC-Laced Sour Patch Candy, Other Sweets In Rockland, Bergen, Prosecutor Says Drug Ring Sold THC-Laced Sour Patch Candy, Other Sweets In Rockland, Bergen, Prosecutor Says
Drug Ring Sold Thc-laced Sour Patch Candy, Other Sweets In Rockland, Bergen, Prosecutor Says Authorities smashed a drug ring that they said sold THC-laced Sour Patch candies and other sweets loved by kids on the black market in Rockland and Bergen counties, on Staten Island and at the Jersey Shore. Various federal, state, county and local law enforcement agencies combined to bring charges against two dozen people while seizing one of the largest amounts ever of illegally-produced THC-infused products in the New York-New Jersey area, authorities announced Tuesday. Seized during the year-long “Operation On the Ropes” investigation were: 1,200 THC-infused “Sour Patch Watermelon” can…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Area Tour Company Founder Indicted On Federal Child Porn Trafficking Charges Area Tour Company Founder Indicted On Federal Child Porn Trafficking Charges
Area Tour Company Founder Indicted On Federal Child Porn Trafficking Charges The founder of a nature tour company operating from the Jersey Shore north to Poughkeepsie and southern Connecticut was found with 6,800 photos and 120 videos of child sexual abuse, an indictment returned by a federal grand jury alleges. Federal Homeland Security agents arrested Vaughn Tiedeman, 46, of Living Adventure Tours, in February on distributing child pornography charges. A grand jury in Newark added receiving and possession counts, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said Thursday. Between July 2018 and January 2019, Tiedeman, of West Milford, “distributed at least 50 videos a…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Area Broker Sentenced For Ripping Off Millions From Investors In Ponzi Scheme Area Broker Sentenced For Ripping Off Millions From Investors In Ponzi Scheme
Area Broker Sentenced For Ripping Off Millions From Investors In Ponzi Scheme A prominent Hudson Valley investment adviser will spend more than a decade behind bars after admitting to defrauding clients out of more than $11 million. Hector May, 78, of Orangeburg in Rockland County, the former president of Executive Compensation Planners in Manhattan has been sentenced to 13 years in prison and ordered to pay $8.4 million in restitution to his victims. May pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in White Plains federal court late last year. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office,  May admitted that from 1995 through last year, he use…

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by Zak Failla
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Connecticut Man Indicted For Threat To Kill Trump, Bomb, Anthrax Hoaxes Connecticut Man Indicted For Threat To Kill Trump, Bomb, Anthrax Hoaxes
Connecticut Man Indicted For Threat To Kill Trump, Bomb, Anthrax Hoaxes A 51-year-old man has been indicted on 16 counts for numerous malicious incidents of intimidation that mentioned the use of explosives and bio-toxins, and for threatening to kill President Donald Trump, John H. Durham, U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced on Saturday, May 11. A federal grand jury in New Haven returned a 16-count indictment on Friday, May 10, charging Gary Joseph Gravelle, also known as Roland Prejean, with threatening to kill, injure and intimidate people and explode property in Connecticut and elsewhere. As alleged in the indictment, in September 2…

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by Joe Lombardi
Police & Fire
Feds Charge Tri-State Area Tour Company Founder With Trafficking Child Porn Feds Charge Tri-State Area Tour Company Founder With Trafficking Child Porn
Feds Charge Tri-State Area Tour Company Founder With Trafficking Child Porn The North Jersey founder of a nature tour company operating from the Jersey Shore north to Poughkeepsie and southern Connecticut was arrested by federal Homeland Security agents on charges of trafficking child porn. Vaughn Tiedeman, 46, of Living Adventure Tours, was ordered held without bail by a federal judge in Newark Monday afternoon on a charge of distributing child pornography. Between July 2018 and January 2019, Tiedeman, of West Milford, “distributed at least 50 videos and 100 images depicting the sexual abuse of children via the BitTorrent peer-to-peer network,” U.S. Attorney Craig…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Postal Worker In Northern Westchester Admits To Stealing Stamps, Selling Them For Profit Postal Worker In Northern Westchester Admits To Stealing Stamps, Selling Them For Profit
Postal Worker In Northern Westchester Admits To Stealing Stamps, Selling Them For Profit A former postal employee from Orange County working in Northern Westchester has been sentenced after admitting to stealing thousands of stamps that he then sold online for a profit. Antonio Pinheiro of Westtown pleaded guilty on Monday, March 4 to stealing thousands of dollars worth of stamps from the U.S. Post Office in Peekskill while he was employed there. In total, he stole approximately 14,000 stamps and sold them through an online marketplace to make thousands of dollars. The thefts took place between July and October 2017 Pinheiro, 54, pleaded guilty to petit larceny, …

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by Zak Failla
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Man Charged With Mailing Letters With White Powder To Federal Offices In NY, CT Man Charged With Mailing Letters With White Powder To Federal Offices In NY, CT
Man Charged With Mailing Letters With White Powder To Federal Offices In NY, CT An area man has been arrested for mailing letters with white powder along with a note implying the substance was Anthrax to federal offices in New York and Connecticut. Jason Pantone, 34, of Hyde Park, was arrested Wednesday, Feb. 27, and appeared in court in Albany on Thursday on charges of conveying false information and hoax, said the U.S. Attorney Grant Jaquith. Pantone is accused of using the U.S. mail to send envelopes containing white power to locations in New York and Connecticut. Each envelope contained suspicious white powder and a note indicating, or implying, that the powde…

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by Kathy Reakes
News
Man Charged In Westchester With Running $3M Mail Fraud Scheme Man Charged In Westchester With Running $3M Mail Fraud Scheme
Man Charged In Westchester With Running $3M Mail Fraud Scheme A man who allegedly ran a multi-million dollar mail fraud scheme targeting small businesses for the better part of a decade was busted and is facing prison time after being charged in White Plains Federal Court on Wednesday. Geoffrey Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that California resident Mark Mushkin, 52, has been charged with one count of mail fraud for his role in a scheme that ran from 2011 to 2017. According to the complaint unsealed in federal court, Mushkin operated a scheme in which he sent false invoices to small businesses throu…

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by Zak Failla