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Friday, jan 31
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East Orange, NJ
News
Temps Could Feel 105 Degrees This Week, Excessive Heat Watch Issued Across NJ, PA (
Timing
)
A heat advisory and excessive heat watch are both in effect across New Jersey and Pennsylvania ahead of scorching temps expected later this week. Temps are expected to rise into the low 90s Tuesday, June 18 (see heat index maps below) and get increasingly hotter as the week progresses. National Weather Service By Friday, temps are expected to be at 96, but could feel more like 100 or even 105, the National Weather Service says. Some New Jersey school districts have early dismissals planned. Those are: Bridgewater-Raritan (Tuesday, with 4-hour days already planned for Wednesd…
Police & Fire
Update
: Number Of Victims Of Repeat Sex Trafficker Reaches Four In NJ, PA, Authorities Charge
The number of alleged victims of a paroled sex trafficker from New Jersey has reached four, federal authorities said. Amin Sharif, 48, of Newark had been free for a year after serving nearly a decade in federal prison when he returned to pimping women and girls, authorities said. Federal agents seized Sharif on sex trafficking charges in January 2022, and have held him since then, while continuing an ongoing investigation that produced an indictment that cites the additional victims. Sharif "used several social media platforms and profiles to recruit women and minors to engage in sex acts…
Police & Fire
NJ's Natalie Classen Killed In Reading Shooting Was 'Talented Athlete With Relentless Drive'
Support was surging and condolences pouring days after the Reading, PA shooting death of New Jersey resident Natalie Classen. The 30-year-old woman was gunned down around 2:30 a.m. Thursday, June 15 while walking with a group on North 10th Street, police in Reading said. When they arrived at the intersection with Greenwich Street, a man with another group approached and shot her once, investigators said. The suspect and his group fled the area, while Classen flagged down a cab and was taken to Reading Hospital, the department said. She died of her injury while officers were still securin…
Police & Fire
Sniper Kendall Howard Accused Of Shooting 2 Newark Officers Captured After Manhunt: Sources
UPDATE: Kendall Howard, the accused East Orange sniper wanted for shooting two Newark police officers, has been captured after a massive search, sources tell Daily Voice. Howard was arrested Wednesday morning by Newark police on two attempted murder charges, sources with direct knowledge of the incident say. Details surrounding his arrest were not immediately clear. Howard had been wanted in connection with another shooting from last Friday when police received a 911 call from a civilian who reported seeing him in the area of an apartment building at 25 Van Velsor Place, authorities said. …
News
Feds: Major NJ Drug Trio Admits Killing Informant, Innocent Bystander, Among Others
A trio of ruthless Essex County gang members admitted their roles in a major drug operation responsible for gunning down a government informant -- following the murder of an innocent bystander who was mistakenly believed to be the snitch. In exchange for their pleas, Tyquan Daniels and Thomas Zimmerman, 27, face a minimum of 33 years in federal prison each, while Ali Hill, 29, is looking at a minimum of 20 years. There's no parole in the federal prison system, which means Daniels and Zimmerman would be turning 60 when either tastes freedom again. Hill would be nearing 50. Federal prosecuto…
News
Theft Of $8.2M In HIV Meds From NJ Vets Hospital Gets Rx Tech 2½ Years Without Parole
UPDATE: A former pharmacy tech was sentenced to a plea-bargained 57 months in federal prison Thursday for stealing $8.2 million worth of HIV medications from a New Jersey veterans hospital to sell on the black market, authorities said. Lisa M. Hoffman, 50, of Orange, will have to serve just about all of the term because there’s no parole in the federal prison system. U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas also sentenced Hoffman on Thursday to three years of supervised release while ordering her to pay the full $8.29 million in restitution – and to forfeit an additional $450,000. Hoffman wa…
News
Abuser Admits Killing Ex-GF, Abducting Son In High-Profile NJ Amber Alert Case
UPDATE: An East Orange man admitted killing his former girlfriend and kidnapping their young son last summer in exchange for what prosecutors said will be a 30-year state prison sentence. Originally charged with counts that included murder, Tyler Rios, 27, took a deal from prosecutors rather than risk trial in what had been a highly-publicized Amber Alert incident. He pleaded guilty on Monday, April 4, to first-degree aggravated manslaughter for killing 24 year-old Yasemin Uyar on July 8, 2021, Union County Prosecutor William A. Daniel announced Tuesday. Rios also pleaded guilty to desec…
News
Feds: Theft Of $8.2M In HIV Meds From Vets Hospital Gets Bergen Man 2½ Years Without Parole
UPDATE: A Lyndhurst man was sentenced to 2½ years in federal prison for conspiring to steal $8.2 million worth of HIV medications from a New Jersey veterans hospital to sell on the black market. Wagner Checonolasco, 34, must serve out just about all of the plea-bargained sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Checonolasco, better known as “Wanny,” had an accomplice in Lisa M. Hoffman of Orange, who worked in the pharmacy of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in East Orange, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Surveillance cameras helped show how Hoffman “plac…
News
Feds: NJ Drug Dealer Gets 10 Years, No Parole
An admitted drug dealer from Union County is headed to federal prison for 10 years. Tyrell "Hell Rell" Wilson, 36, of Rahway, must serve out just about all of the sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Wilson was busted in September 2019 with ex-con Marvin "Black Jesus" Lagrier, 39, of Newark. Authorities said they seized cocaine base, heroin, fentanyl, drug-packaging materials, a gun and several rounds of ammunition after searching Wilson's vehicle and a backpack he tossed while trying to flee. They also recovered several Newark Housing Authority uniforms bearin…
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
Ex-Employee Admits Stealing $10M Worth Of HIV Meds From NJ Veterans Hospital
A former pharmacy tech admitted stealing nearly $10 million worth of HIV medications from a New Jersey veterans hospital and selling them to a fence from Lyndhurst. Lisa M. Hoffman, 49, of Orange, used her authority to order excessive amounts of medication for the outpatient pharmacy from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in East Orange, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Surveillance cameras helped show how she “placed large orders for HIV medication, purportedly on behalf of the VAMC,” the U.S. attorney said. “After the medications arrived, Hoffman waited until co-worke…
News
Murder, Kidnapping Indictment Returned Against NJ Man Accused Of Killing Ex-GF, Abducting Son
UPDATE: The next step in the high-profile prosecution of an East Orange man accused of killing his former girlfriend and kidnapping their young son this summer was taken when a Union County grand jury indicted him on murder and other charges, authorities said. The six-count indictment returned by grand jurors in Elizabeth also charges Tyler Rios, 27, with desecrating the remains of 24-year-old Yasemin Uyar of Rahway after killing her. Authorities began searching for Uyar and Sebastian Rios on July 8 after he didn’t show up for daycare and she didn't arrive for scheduled work shifts. Tyler…
News
NJ Judge Who Called Men 'In Control' And Women Created 'On A Curve' Begins Unpaid Suspension
A New Jersey judge will be benched for a month beginning Wednesday for telling a domestic violence defendant that men are "in control" and that God created women "on a curve." The state Supreme Court suspended Municipal Court Judge Steven Brister for the month without pay for the way he told the man to consider women. “We get frustrated with the women human beings. Because we try to straighten out a creation ‘cause they was created with a curve," said Brister, a defense attorney who works as a part-time judge in East Orange and Newark, during a 2019 case. The judge later explained he was r…
News
Getaway Driver In 7-County North Jersey Holdup Spree Heads To Federal Prison
The wheelman in nearly two dozen gas station and convenience store armed robberies in North Jersey was sent to federal prison for at least nine years. Meshach Whagar, 31, of Newark must serve just about all of the 110-month sentence handed down in U.S. District Court in Newark on Wednesday because there’s no parole in the federal prison system. Whager admitted late last year that he drove the getaway car during the 20 predawn holdups in seven counties -- Bergen, Passaic, Hudson, Essex, Middlesex, Morris and Union -- in November and December of 2017 (see list of locations below). The gunman…
News
Captured
! Here’s How FBI, Local Law Enforcers Nabbed NJ Fugitive, Rescued Boy, Found Mom’s Body
UPDATE: The New Jersey man who authorities said abducted his 2-year-old son and killed the child’s mother led police and FBI agents to her body after they stormed a Tennessee hotel room and captured him, authorities said Sunday. Tyler Rios, 27, will likely be prosecuted federally because state lines were crossed, they suggested. Union County prosecutor’s detectives had called their colleagues at the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office around 3 a.m. Saturday telling them they believed Rios was in the area. Rios had abducted his son, Sebastian, and was suspected of harming Yasemin Uyar, 24, of Ra…
News
Feds: Message App Shows How Pair Stole $10M Worth Of HIV Meds From NJ Veterans Hospital
UPDATE: Encrypted messages outline how a former pharmacy worker stole $10 million worth of HIV medications from a New Jersey veterans hospital with the help of a black-market fence from Bergen County, authorities charged. Surveillance cameras had already caught pharmacy tech Lisa M. Hoffman of Orange stealing the drugs from the shelves of the outpatient pharmacy at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in East Orange, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said earlier this year. According to an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Newark this week, federal agents also s…
News
US Marshals Nab Pair Of NJ Sex Offenders Together In PA, Prosecutor Says
A pair of New Jersey sex offenders wanted for incidents involving an 8-year-old boy and two girls ages 11 and 14 were found together in Pennsylvania, authorities said Saturday. U.S. Marshals and Task Force officers found Emanuel Cortez and Alberto Colon at a family member's house with two children in Summit Hill (Carbon County) PA, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens, II, said. Cortez, 31, of East Orange, was released from confinement in May 2018 and had been missing from supervision since March 15, 2019. An indictment charged him with escape,&nbs…
News
Black Market Birds: Why Was
Nj-b
ound Airport Traveler Smuggling Finches In Hair Rollers?
You might ask yourself why a Guyanese traveler headed to New Jersey was found trying to smuggle in a flock of finches tucked into hair rollers through JFK Airport. The answer: Singing competitions. U.S. Customs and Border Protections reported seizing 29 of the petite black-market songbirds this past weekend. It's happened before -- and not just at New York/New Jersey area airports. Last year, hundreds were discovered at no fewer than 16 airports nationwide, although COVID-19 likely curbed the number, CBP said. The 2019 total was 2,117. Nearly all come from Guyana, where birdson…
News
Feds: NJ Veterans Hospital Employee Caught On Camera Stealing $8.2M Worth Of HIV Meds
A now-former employee stole $8.2 million worth of HIV medications from a New Jersey veterans hospital pharmacy that she sold to a fence from Bergen County, federal authorities said Wednesday. Surveillance video showed pharmacy technician Lisa M. Hoffman of Orange “regularly taking dozens of bottles of HIV medications" from the shelves of the outpatient pharmacy at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in East Orange, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. The video then shows her “placing them in a white mail bin, and then transferring the medications from the mail bin to he…
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