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Feds: ID Thief Gets 4 Years For Stealing $600,000 From NJ Bank Customers Feds: ID Thief Gets 4 Years For Stealing $600,000 From NJ Bank Customers
Feds: ID Thief Gets 4 Years For Stealing $600,000 From NJ Bank Customers UPDATE: An admitted identity thief was sentenced to four years in federal prison for conspiring with a South Jersey bank employee and others to steal more than $600,000 from unsuspecting victims, federal authorities said. Lamar Melhado, 32, of the Bronx will have to serve just about all of the plea-bargained sentence handed down in U.S. District Court in Camden on Monday, March 7, because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Melhado received photos and screenshots of customers’ information and signatures from Mount Laurel bank call center employee Jamere Hill-Birdsong of Gloucest…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Defendant In Murder Of Paterson Woman Found Stuffed In Car Trunk Points To BF, His Dad Defendant In Murder Of Paterson Woman Found Stuffed In Car Trunk Points To BF, His Dad
Defendant In Murder Of Paterson Woman Found Stuffed In Car Trunk Points To BF, His Dad UPDATE: One of three people charged with the brutal murder of a Paterson woman told detectives that she saw her live-in boyfriend and his father carry a large box from their Totowa home to the victim's car the night she was believed killed, authorities said. The victim, Stephanie DeJesus, 38, had driven to the Gordon Avenue home where Justin Fisher and Joelle Martucci lived with their young son the night of Feb. 23, documents say security video shows. She'd driven there from a nearby pharmacy, according to an affidavit filed in Superior Court in Paterson. Martucci, 24, pulled up afterward…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Totowa Trio Charged With Killing Paterson Woman Found Stuffed In Car Trunk Totowa Trio Charged With Killing Paterson Woman Found Stuffed In Car Trunk
Totowa Trio Charged With Killing Paterson Woman Found Stuffed In Car Trunk UPDATE: One of three people charged with the brutal murder of a Paterson woman told detectives that she saw her live-in boyfriend and his father carry a large box from their Totowa home to the victim's car the night she was believed killed, authorities said. The victim, Stephanie DeJesus, 38, had driven to the Gordon Avenue home where Justin Fisher and Joelle Martucci lived with their young son the night of Feb. 23, documents say security video shows. She'd driven there from a nearby pharmacy, according to an affidavit filed in Superior Court in Paterson. Martucci, 24, pulled up afterward…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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SHAMELESS: NJ Con Woman Admits Swindling Elderly Victims Of $675K In 'Lottery Winner' Scam SHAMELESS: NJ Con Woman Admits Swindling Elderly Victims Of $675K In 'Lottery Winner' Scam
Shameless: NJ Con Woman Admits Swindling Elderly Victims Of $675K In 'Lottery Winner' Scam A New Jersey woman admitted scamming seniors nationwide out of huge sums of money -- including $500,000 from one 94-year-old victim -- by telling them they'd won the lottery. Shanile Lyle, 28, of Orange, was part of an international crew that called and conned seniors across the U.S. out of at least $675,000, federal authorities said. The vulnerable victims “received telephone calls alerting them that they had won large sums of money and various other prizes,” according to a complaint on file in U.S. District Court in Newark. They were then told they'd have to "pre-pay" taxes in order to c…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Conspirator Who Used NJ High School Students To Cash Stolen COVID Stimulus Checks Gets 4 Years Conspirator Who Used NJ High School Students To Cash Stolen COVID Stimulus Checks Gets 4 Years
Conspirator Who Used NJ High School Students To Cash Stolen COVID Stimulus Checks Gets 4 Years One of a nest of criminals who paid New Jersey high school students to cash COVID stimulus checks stolen from the mail was sentenced to four years in federal prison. Because there's no parole in the federal prison system, Jeffrey Bennett, 27, of Irvington, must serve just about all of the plea-bargained sentence rubber-stamped by a U.S. District Court judge in Newark via videoconference on Monday, Feb. 14. Bennett -- a reputed associate of a group called "The Members" -- recruited U.S. Postal Service employees to steal checks, checkbooks, debit cards, and credit cards from the mail in excha…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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East Coast Luxury Car Theft Ring Smashed By PalPark Detectives East Coast Luxury Car Theft Ring Smashed By PalPark Detectives
East Coast Luxury Car Theft Ring Smashed By PalPark Detectives What at first seemed like a run-of-the-mill package theft led Palisades Park detectives to an organized theft ring that used bogus IDs to buy high-end luxury cars, authorities said. Jeon Kichul, a 43-year-old Korean national, was arrested last December after Detective David Chun identified him as the porch pirate who swiped a package containing a baseball glove from outside a resident’s home, Capt. Shawn Lee said. Kichul, who was also carrying bogus ID, was released pending further investigation, said Lee, the officer in charge of the department. Chun then learned that Jeon was "part of a …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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West New York Killer Brutally Beat Inmate For Latin Kings 'Hit Squad,' Indictment Charges West New York Killer Brutally Beat Inmate For Latin Kings 'Hit Squad,' Indictment Charges
West New York Killer Brutally Beat Inmate For Latin Kings 'Hit Squad,' Indictment Charges A convicted killer from West New York sent a fellow inmate to the hospital with a severe head injury as part of a deal with a prison "hit squad" run by a Latin Kings leader, authorities said. Daniel Balbuena, 29, carried out the beating in exchange for an assault on a rival of the Gran Familiar Mexicana gang by hit squad members, an indictment returned by a grand jury in Trenton alleges. Authorities last year charged Frank “Lafay” Blake of Hillside and several other current and former shank-armed inmates with an assault at New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, as well as with plans to carry …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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MURDER FOR HIRE: NJ Political Operative Admits Paying Hit Men To Kill Longtime Associate MURDER FOR HIRE: NJ Political Operative Admits Paying Hit Men To Kill Longtime Associate
Murder FOR Hire: NJ Political Operative Admits Paying Hit Men To Kill Longtime Associate A New Jersey-based political consultant admitted Tuesday that he hired two hitmen to kill a longtime associate from Hudson County who had worked for him on various election campaigns, federal authorities said. Sean Caddle, 44, a former aide to former State Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) paid the killers -- one from Connecticut, the other from Pennsylvania -- to get rid of Michael Galdieri, the son of former State Sen. James Galdieri (D-Jersey City) and a prominent figure in local Hudson County politics. Galdieri, 52, was stabbed to death in May 2014 before his Jersey City apartmen…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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PA Man Guilty Of Murder Could Spend Rest Of His Life In Prison PA Man Guilty Of Murder Could Spend Rest Of His Life In Prison
PA Man Guilty Of Murder Could Spend Rest Of His Life In Prison A Pennsylvania man found guilty of murder is heading to prison for up to 87 years. Ryan Rivera, 24, was convicted of third-degree murder, conspiracy and carrying a firearm in a jury trial on Nov. 19 in the drive-by killing of 22-year-old Tyreek Gardner in May 2019, according to a release from the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office. Rivera confronted Gardner with another man on the 300 block of E. Fulton St. after the two had crossed paths earlier that night. The man with Rivera punched Gardner before he fled and was shot at by the two men near Tobacco Avenue, where shell casings w…

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by Valerie Musson
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3rd Suspect Charged In Cold-Blooded Killing Of Paterson Man Gunned Down In Front Of His Mom 3rd Suspect Charged In Cold-Blooded Killing Of Paterson Man Gunned Down In Front Of His Mom
3rd Suspect Charged In Cold-Blooded Killing Of Paterson Man Gunned Down In Front Of His Mom A third arrest was made nearly two weeks ago in the cold-blooded ambush killing a 22-year-old Paterson man in front of his mother last Fourth of July weekend, authorities announced Monday. Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes and Paterson Police Chief Ibrahim Baycora didn’t explain why they waited nearly two weeks to announce the arrest of Dashawn A. Rhoden, 22, in the shooting death of Juan Garcia, 28 last July 3. They'd done the same earlier Monday when they announced the capture of a suspect in another murder case,  Garcia was gunned down in front of his mother in a targeted…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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East Coast Ring Stole High-End GPS Devices From Boatyards In NJ, Elsewhere, State Police Charge East Coast Ring Stole High-End GPS Devices From Boatyards In NJ, Elsewhere, State Police Charge
East Coast Ring Stole High-End GPS Devices From Boatyards In NJ, Elsewhere, State Police Charge An ex-con with a previous history of boat-related thefts was part of a Miami-based ring that stole GPS systems from boatyards along the East Coast, including more than $300,000 worth in New Jersey, authorities said. Mizael Alfonso, 47, and co-defendant Marie Frometa Rodriguez, 41, were captured at a motel in Plymouth, MA, New Jersey State Police said. A third defendant, Manuel Barbosa Mendiluza, 58, was arrested by Miami police, while a fourth, Ciro Perez Martinez, 29, was nabbed by the Miami-Dade Marine Theft Task Force. All were extradited to New Jersey, NJ State Police said. Troopers f…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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NJ Man Admits Hatching $400,000 Homeless GoFundMe Scam NJ Man Admits Hatching $400,000 Homeless GoFundMe Scam
NJ Man Admits Hatching $400,000 Homeless GoFundMe Scam The mastermind of a GoFundMe scheme that conned 14,000 donors across the country out of $400,000 to purportedly benefit a homeless veteran admitted in federal court in New Jersey on Monday that he and his ex-girlfriend pocketed most of the money. Mark D’Amico, 42, formerly of Bordentown, admitted concocting a bogus feel-good story about the supposed victim coming to the rescue of Katelyn McClure after she ran out of gas on Route 95 on her way home to New Jersey from Philadelphia. Both McClure and the homeless man, Johnny Bobbitt Jr., were in on the scheme, authorities said. Together, D’Am…

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by Jerry DeMarco