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Black Tie Optional: NJ Sisters Charged With Staging Sham Marriages To Keep Non-Citizens In US Black Tie Optional: NJ Sisters Charged With Staging Sham Marriages To Keep Non-Citizens In US
Black Tie Optional: NJ Sisters Charged With Staging Sham Marriages To Keep Non-Citizens In US Two New Jersey sisters were charged by federal authorities with obtaining phony marriage licenses and staging bogus wedding ceremonies, receptions and other events in an elaborate scheme to help undocumented non-citizens avoid deportation. Andrea Torres, 55, and Regina Johnson, 57, recruited and paid American citizens to participate in the fraud by posing as spouses, an indictment returned by a grand jury in U.S. District Court in Newark alleges. The Newark sisters went so far as pushing clients to take photos in a variety of locations in different clothing to make it appear that they were …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Fugitive Wanted For NJ Bank, Convenience Store Robberies Captured On Route 80 In Nebraska Fugitive Wanted For NJ Bank, Convenience Store Robberies Captured On Route 80 In Nebraska
Fugitive Wanted For NJ Bank, Convenience Store Robberies Captured On Route 80 In Nebraska An Elizabeth fugitive wanted for robbing a bank and two convenience stores in New Jersey at gunpoint was captured following a high-speed stolen car chase on Route 80 in Nebraska, federal authorities said Friday. Dayshawn Brimfield, 30, was carrying evidence of his deeds when he crashed and was taken into custody by state troopers on the westbound interstate near Lincoln on April 25, NE, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. He was later extradited to New Jersey and brought before a federal judge via videoconference on Friday. Brimfield became a fugitive after robbing a TD …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Sussex Man Who Spent $5.6M COVID Relief Money On Stock Market, Luxury Car, More Sentenced Sussex Man Who Spent $5.6M COVID Relief Money On Stock Market, Luxury Car, More Sentenced
Sussex Man Who Spent $5.6M COVID Relief Money On Stock Market, Luxury Car, More Sentenced A Sussex County man was sentenced Tuesday to more than five years in federal prison for spending $5.6 million in federal COVID-19 pandemic business loans for himself, authorities said. Azhar Sarwar Rana, 31, of Newton will have to serve out just about all of the 64-month sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. The federal Paycheck Protection Program was designed to keep struggling small businesses afloat during the pandemic. Rana used the money, instead, to invest millions in the stock market, make a payment to a luxury car dealership and send hundreds of thous…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Former Bookkeeper Who Embezzled $1.78M From NJ Steel Company Gets Six Years In Fed Pen Former Bookkeeper Who Embezzled $1.78M From NJ Steel Company Gets Six Years In Fed Pen
Former Bookkeeper Who Embezzled $1.78M From NJ Steel Company Gets Six Years In Fed Pen A former bookkeeper who embezzled $1.7 million from the Newark-based steel company she worked for must spend a plea-bargained six years in federal prison. There’s no parole in the federal prison system, which means Tammy L. Martinez, 49, of South Amboy, must serve out just about the entire term. For more than five years, Martinez forged her manager’s signature on bogus checks made out to her or to cash, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. She cashed the checks at area TD Bank branches where the company had an account or dropped the money into a personal account, a complaint on file…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Feds: Defendant In Florida-to-Jersey Shore Gun Running Ring Takes Plea Feds: Defendant In Florida-to-Jersey Shore Gun Running Ring Takes Plea
Feds: Defendant In Florida-to-Jersey Shore Gun Running Ring Takes Plea A fourth defendant admitted Friday that he was part of a ring that sold guns trafficked from Florida to the Jersey Shore to buyers working for the FBI. Enrique Quijada, 24, of Freehold told a federal judge in Trenton via videoconference on Friday that he worked with ringleader Manuel “Chino” Espinosa-Ozoria of Bartow, FL his brother, Waldin “Manin” Espinosa-Ozoria of Freehold and two others. The crew sold handguns and a semi-automatic rifle, among other weapons, to what turned out to be FBI operatives in and around Monmouth and Ocean counties, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. De…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Nigerian Man Named 'Godspower' Stole $1.89 Mil From Pennsylvania Women: USDOJ Nigerian Man Named 'Godspower' Stole $1.89 Mil From Pennsylvania Women: USDOJ
Nigerian Man Named 'Godspower' Stole $1.89 Mil From Pennsylvania Women: Usdoj A Nigerian man has been sentenced after being found guilty of laundering $1.89 million in a mail and wire fraud scheme that targeted Pennsylvania women, according to a release by the US Department of Justice. Jabin Godspower Okpako, 36, and his wife, Christine Bradley Okpako, 54, of Sayre, Pennsylvania, used three bank accounts in Nigeria to transfer funds out of the United States, prosecutors say according to the release. The couple targeted women, ranging in age from 55 to 85, using Instagram, Facebook, Words with Friends, and What’s App, according to the release. After cultivating onlin…

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by Jillian Pikora
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Long Island Man, 79, Charged in $13M 'Cash Prize' Mail Scam That Duped Seniors Nationwide Long Island Man, 79, Charged in $13M 'Cash Prize' Mail Scam That Duped Seniors Nationwide
Long Island Man, 79, Charged in $13M 'Cash Prize' Mail Scam That Duped Seniors Nationwide A 79-year-old Long Island man and two accomplices scammed mostly elderly victims out of $13 million through a pair of bogus "cash prize" direct-mail scams, federal authorities charged. Hundreds of thousands of mailings claimed the victims were "specially chosen" to receive a large cash prize, the government said. All they had to do was pay a "fee" of from $20 to $40 to collect their prize, a federal indictment says. Many unfortunately fell for it, authorities said. The indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn names Shawn Phillips, 52, of British Columbia, Canada, as the ring…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Former NJ Military Couple Avoids More Prison Time For Horrific Child Abuse Former NJ Military Couple Avoids More Prison Time For Horrific Child Abuse
Former NJ Military Couple Avoids More Prison Time For Horrific Child Abuse UPDATE: A former New Jersey Army major and his wife avoided more time in federal prison Wednesday when they were resentenced for routinely torturing three adopted children by breaking bones, withholding water and force-feeding them hot sauce, among other cruelties. A federal appeals court had rejected two previous sentencings of Carolyn Jackson and John E. Jackson by U.S. District Judge Katharine Hayden as too lenient. Hayden, however, said Wednesday that she believed more time behind bars would be "more punishment than is necessary" for abusing the children, all of whom were less than 4 y…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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R. Kelly Convicted Of Child Sex Assaults, Sex Trafficking By Federal Jurors In NYC R. Kelly Convicted Of Child Sex Assaults, Sex Trafficking By Federal Jurors In NYC
R. Kelly Convicted Of Child Sex Assaults, Sex Trafficking By Federal Jurors In NYC R&B singer R. Kelly could spend the rest of his life behind bars after being convicted of running a decades-long sex trafficking ring -- one that included children as victims -- following a high-profile trial full of graphic testimony. The guilty verdict returned by seven male and five female federal jurors in Brooklyn on Monday "forever brands" Robert Sylvester Kelly, 54, as "a predator who used his fame and fortune to prey on the young, the vulnerable and the voiceless for his own sexual gratification," said Jacquelyn Kasulis, the acting US attorney for the Eastern District of New York…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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PHONY FED: Trenton Woman Charged With Impersonating FBI Agent PHONY FED: Trenton Woman Charged With Impersonating FBI Agent
Phony FED: Trenton Woman Charged With Impersonating FBI Agent She wore an empty gun holster on her hip, told Trenton police “I’m FBI" and said she specialized in cyber security at the bureau’s Philadelphia office, authorities said. Police believed her at first. Then she pushed it too far, authorities said. Nealeigh Glasper, 29, of Trenton, now faces charges of impersonating a federal agent. Glasper was a passenger in a car pulled over for having heavily tinted windows – a violation of state law – in a high-crime area of Trenton, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. She introduced herself as “Special Agent Glasper,” “repeatedly told the office…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Three Bank Robberies With Shot Fired Send NJ Man To Fed Pen For 45 Years Three Bank Robberies With Shot Fired Send NJ Man To Fed Pen For 45 Years
Three Bank Robberies With Shot Fired Send NJ Man To Fed Pen For 45 Years A South Jersey man was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison for robbing three banks at gunpoint within weeks of each other, taking more than $22,000 combined and firing a shot at a customer. Stephan Byrd, 46, of Vineland will have to serve just about all of the sentence – meaning he’d have to live at least to 90 before he could again see freedom – because there’s no parole in the federal prison system. Rejecting a deal from the government, Byrd went to trial and was convicted in federal court in Camden in April 2019. It began in June 2014, when Byrd robbed the Ocean City Home Bank in Ma…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Jersey Shore Wrestling Champ Arrested By FBI On Child Porn Charges Jersey Shore Wrestling Champ Arrested By FBI On Child Porn Charges
Jersey Shore Wrestling Champ Arrested By FBI On Child Porn Charges A New Jersey state wrestling champion and coach who made national headlines when he revealed that he’s gay was arrested by the FBI Wednesday on child porn charges, federal authorities said. Alec Donovan, 24, of Brick Township also used an app to “solicit and engage in conversations with minors, including requesting nude photographs from the minors and sending nude photographs to them,” Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Donovan, who records show has coached at the Shorething Wrestling Club in Lakewood, “sent three videos containing images of child sexual abuse and received two vide…

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by Jerry DeMarco