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Tuesday, nov 5
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Department of Homeland Security
News
PA Man Gets 24 Years In Prison For Fentanyl Drug Bust: Authorities
A Philadelphia man was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison for possessing 36 kilograms of fentanyl and running two drug houses with a citizen of the Dominican Republic, authorities said. Gabriel Rivera-Otero, 42, also known as "Carlos Vasquez" and "Gustavo," was sentenced to about 24-and-a-half years in prison and 10 years of supervised release, according to a Department of Justice news release on Monday, Oct. 28. A Dominican Republic man, Angel Reyes-Valdez, 47, also known as "Abel Anton Alberto Nunez," was sentenced with Rivera-Otero, the news release states. Reyes-Valdez was senten…
Police & Fire
State Police, Feds Investigating After Police Officer Shot In Scranton (
Updated
)
More details are emerging in the Thursday, Jan. 11 shooting of a Scranton police officer. The officer and an unnamed "subject" were both shot during an "exchange of gunfire," authorities said previously. In a Thursday afternoon press conference, a state police spokesman said SPD officers were investigating a pair of shootings — one on the 400 block of Harrison Avenue and one on the 300 block of Prospect Avenue — when the gunfight broke out. Both the officer and the other person remain at Geisinger CMC in "critical but stable" condition, according to police. …
News
Ex-Trump PAC Exec Who Blamed 'That B****' Hillary Clinton For Probe Indicted By Feds In NJ
A former pro-Trump PAC exec who blamed "that b**** Hillary Clinton" for his troubles with the law swindled more than two dozen investors out of $7 million, an indictment returned Tuesday by a federal grand jury in Newark alleges. U.S. Homeland Security agents a year ago this month smashed the alleged Ponzi scheme that they said New Jersey-based businessman David Schamens, 65, used to fund a lavish lifestyle. Now comes a March 28 indictment that charges him with wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering. Schamens, of Greensboro, North Carolina, used some of the investment money fro…
News
NJ Dealer Awaiting Trial For Shooting Detectives Gets 13 Years In Federal Drug Takedown
A manager of a major New Jersey drug ring who's awaiting trial for shooting two undercover detectives must spend 13 years in federal custody after taking a plea deal from the government in a separate case. Juan Figueroa, 25, was the last of 19 members of the Bloods-related group who were convicted following a federal assault on an open-air drug market in Camden that provided walkup and drive-by service to its customers. Figueroa and two associates were also charged in state court with ambushing two Camden County Police detectives who were investigating the ring, which peddled heroin, crack,…
News
International Fugitive Wanted In Five-Kilo Cocaine Importing Ring Seized At Newark Airport
An international fugitive wanted for having couriers smuggle more than five kilos of cocaine into the U.S. on a cruise ship was seized at Newark Airport after a decade on the run, federal authorities announced. A federal magistrate judge ordered that Dennis "Death" Edwards, a 38-year-old Guyanese national, remain held without bail following a brief hearing in Newark on Tuesday, Nov. 15. Edwards had avoided capture since being indicted by a federal grand jury on conspiracy charges in 2012, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Authorities said he conspired to import cocaine from St. Maar…
News
Tri-State Tour Company Founder Gets 7 Years, No Parole, In Child Porn Case
A tri-state nature tour company founder from North Jersey was sentenced to a plea-bargained seven years in federal prison for collecting hundreds of child porn images. Vaughn Tiedeman -- whose Living Adventure Tours operates in the Garden State, New York and Pennsylvania -- must serve out the entire term because there's no parole in the federal prison system. He'll also remain under supervised release for 10 years under the sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton in Newark on Thursday, Sept. 21. Special agents of the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Inv…
News
Man Who Showed Up For Sex With 'Girl,' 13, At NJ Motel Sent To Federal Prison
A Bronx man was sentenced to two years in federal prison for arranging what he thought would be sex with a 13-year-old girl at a New Jersey motel. Eduardo Silva, 44, must serve the entire term because there’s no parole in the federal prison system. U.S. District Judge Renée Marie Bumb also sentenced him to lifetime supervised release during a hearing in federal court in Camden on Thursday, April 28. Silva used a social media app to ask the “minor” whether she was “into older guys,” U.S Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. He then “sent a series of explicit online communications and text mess…
News
COVID Mask Seller From Brooklyn Pleads Guilty To Gouging NJ Grocers At 400% Markup
A Brooklyn company admitted that it illegally made a killing off a New Jersey grocery store chain by selling it COVID masks during the pandemic at a 400% markup, federal authorities said. Milk & Honey Ventures and two partners bought 250,000 KN95 filtering facepiece respirators from a foreign manufacturer, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said Tuesday, March 29. MHV had never sold personal protective equipment before, Sellinger said. The company and one its partners sold 100,000 of the masks to a chain of New Jersey grocery stores at $5.25 per mask -- far in excess of prevailing marke…
News
Visa
Fraud
: NJ Lawyer Busted By Feds In Undercover Sting
A New Jersey attorney who lives in Pennsylvania was arrested by federal agents after he submitted a false visa application for a client who turned out to be a government informant, authorities said. Steven G. Thomas, 52, of New Hope, PA had been encouraging clients to apply for asylum under false pretenses, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said on Wednesday, Feb. 23. Thomas, who operates a law firm in Montgomery Township, told them how they'd mostly succeed in their applications even though he knew full well that they didn't qualify, Sellinger said. Then he "prepared or cau…
News
Crypto
Crime
: Rapping 'Crocodile of Wall Street,' Husband Nabbed In $4.5 Billion Bitcoin Bust
The self-described “Crocodile of Wall Street” and her husband were arrested by federal agents in Manhattan on Tuesday, Feb. 8, on charges of conspiring to launder billions of dollars in cryptocurrency stolen in a bombshell hack of a virtual currency exchange. Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein, 34, and Heather Rhiannon Morgan, a 31-year-old business blogger/rapper, weren’t charged in the 2016 theft from Bitfinex of what at the time was $71 million worth of cryptocurrency – now valued at $4.5 billion. They are charged with conspiring to (a) commit money laundering and (b) defraud the United States, …
News
NJ Ring That Dealt Fentanyl, Crack Smashed By Federal, County, Local Crime-Fighting Team
Eleven accused members of a drug ring that authorities said openly peddled crack and potentially fatal fentanyl in a Newark neighborhood were charged federally on Wednesday. The ring's "primary supplier," Frazier Burton, 46, was caught with 100 bricks of heroin and fentanyl when tactical officers arrested him Wednesday morning, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. At 50 bags per brick, that's 5,000 individual packages -- all of which Honig said carried the neighborhood drug network's particular stamps. The case took several months for an ad hoc team of local, county and federal inve…
News
Ring Member Convicted In $565,091 IRS Scam That Sent Refund Checks To Same NJ Town
A New Jersey woman was convicted of participating in a massive ID theft scheme that had $565,091 in tax refunds from the IRS sent to a small section of the same town. Awilda Henriquez, 35, took her chances with a trial after three of her accomplices took guilty pleas. She was found guilty in U.S. District Court in Camden on Thursday of 27 counts involving defrauding the federal government, mail theft, stealing government money and aggravated ID theft, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Ring members filed more than 3,300 tax returns in 2013 using the names and Social Security numbe…
News
NJ Founder Of Tri-State Nature Tour Company Takes Guilty Plea In Child Porn Case
The North Jersey founder of a tri-state nature tour company admitted Wednesday that he collected hundreds of child porn images, federal authorities said. Vaughn Tiedeman, 48, of Living Adventure Tours in Sussex County, was arrested by federal Homeland Security agents on child porn trafficking charges in early 2019. Between July 2018 and January 2019, the West Milford resident “downloaded and possessed more than 600 images of child sexual abuse, including images of young children and depictions of violence,” Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Rachael Honig said. Rather than risk conviction…
News
NJ Neo-Nazi Gets Year, Day For Masterminding Nationwide ‘Kristallnacht’ Attack On Blacks, Jews
A New Jersey member of a hardcore neo-Nazi group was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison on Tuesday for convincing two fellow white supremacists to vandalize property owned by Blacks and Jews. Richard Tobin, 20, dubbed the nationwide campaign “Operation Kristallnacht,” after a 1938 pogrom in which German Nazis slaughtered more than 90 Jews and burned their homes, synagogues, stores and schools, Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Rachael A. Honig said. Tobin “encouraged hateful acts of violence against individuals and their houses of worship, based on their religion or the color…
News
Feds: NJ Mail Carrier Picked Up, Delivered Drugs For Years
A New Jersey mail carrier took bribes for five years to help people use the U.S. Postal Service to ship coke, pot and other contraband through the mail. Emerson Pavilus, 46, of Union was working for the post office in Flanders when he took the payoffs, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. “Among other things, Pavilus provided his conspirators with addresses in Flanders to which parcels could be shipped, intercepted those parcels from the mail stream, and personally delivered those parcels to conspirators at addresses other than those listed on the parcels,” Honig said. Pavilus was n…
News
Feds: NJ Mail Carrier Picked Up, Delivered Drugs For Years
A New Jersey mail carrier took bribes for five years to help people use the U.S. Postal Service to ship coke, pot and other contraband through the mail. Emerson Pavilus, 46, of Union was working for the post office in Flanders when he took the payoffs, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. “Among other things, Pavilus provided his conspirators with addresses in Flanders to which parcels could be shipped, intercepted those parcels from the mail stream, and personally delivered those parcels to conspirators at addresses other than those listed on the parcels,” Honig said. Pavilus was n…
News
Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge Taken To D.C. Hospital After Having Stroke
The former Gov. of Pennsylvania and first secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, was taken to a D.C. area Hospital Wednesday night following a stroke, according to his family. Ridge, 75, of Bethesda, Maryland, suffered the stroke Monday morning while at home. Ridge was conscious when he arrived at the hospital. He underwent a procedure to remove a blood clot, which was successful. He was in critical but stable condition early Wednesday evening. "The family requests your prayers for a full recovery. Further updates will be provided as events warrant," his family sa…
News
Real ID Registration Deadline For Pennsylvania Residents Postponed To 2023
The Department of Homeland Security extended the REAL ID full enforcement date by 19 months, on Tuesday. The extension shifts the date from Oct. 1, 2021 to May 3, 2023. The move is due to the continued pandemic. “Protecting the health, safety, and security of our communities is our top priority,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas. “As our country continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, extending the REAL ID full enforcement deadline will give states needed time to reopen their driver’s licensing operations and ensure their residents can obtain a RE…
Police & Fire
Report
: Lehigh Valley Man Working In NYC Probation Dept. Had ‘Thousands’ Of Child Porn Pics
A Lehigh Valley man who worked for the New York City Department of Probation is accused of possessing “thousands” of child pornography pictures and videos, a new report says. Bethlehem Township resident Robert Costello of the 3200 block of Highfield Drive was charged with 75 counts of child pornography following his initial arrest last October, LehighValleyLive reports. Costello’s work cell phone was found to have at least 25 thumbnails depicting “child exploitation material,” according to the report, which cites Northampton County court papers. Costello, 53, was indicted Friday and charge…
Police & Fire
Ny-b
ound Drug Traffickers Busted In PA With $4M In Cocaine, Heroin, Fentanyl, Authorities Say
A routine traffic stop led by a keen-eyed Bedminster Township patrol officer seized nearly $4 million worth of cocaine, heroin and fentanyl from a couple "passing through" during a cross-country drug trafficking operation, authorities said. Christian Ochoa, 28, of Laredo, Texas, was driving the drugs across the country and likely headed to New York, District Attorney Matt Weintraub said at a news conference on Thursday. He was likely just "passing through" Bucks County when he was stopped, Weintraub said. Ochoa's passenger, Edith Tomasa Rodriguez Cardenas, 27, of Huntington Park,…
News
Feds Issue 'Violent Extremist' Terror Alert
The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday issued a nationwide terrorism alert warning citizens of “domestic violent extremists” who could incite or commit violence. "Some ideologically-motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority and the presidential transition, as well as other perceived grievances fueled by false narratives, could continue to mobilize to incite or commit violence," Acting DHS Secretary David Pekoske wrote in an official advisory that lasts until April 30. Although no evidence of a credible attack was found, Pekoski said vio…
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