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Tag: US Attorney's Office
Philly Cocaine Dealer Who Tried To Kill Witness Gets Sentenced: Usdoj
A convicted Philadelphia drug dealer who tried to have a witness assassinated while awaiting trial last year will spend the better part of a century in federal prison, prosecutors say.
Luis Algarin-Torres, 34, was sentenced to 622 months, or just shy of 52 years, plus six years of supervised release, according to the US Attorney's Office.
During a raid on his Hunting Park home in 2018, authorities said they found $28,000 in cash, 34 grams of cocaine, and a loaded gun that had been modified to fire automatically stashed in a kitchen light fixture.
They also found evid…
Drug Trafficking Group With California Ties Operated In Lehigh Valley: Feds
Five members of an alleged trafficking group active in greater Philadelphia face federal charges, the US Attorney's Office announced this week.
Investigators say the group sent cocaine and methamphetamine to Pennsylvania through the mail for distribution in Reading, Quakertown, Bensalem, Plymouth Township, Coopersburg, and elsewhere.
Authorities said they seized 40 firearms, over 100,000 rounds of ammunition, 60 pounds of meth, one kilogram of fentanyl, one kilogram of cocaine, 65 pounds of marijuana, 300 fentanyl pills, six pounds of psilocybin mushrooms, and $15,000 cash from the su…
City Lead Inspector From Yardley Got $34K In Phony Overtime Payments: Feds
Two Trenton lead inspectors admitted that they received nearly $55,000 in illegal overtime pay from the city for hours they did not work, federal authorities said.
Michael Ingram, 71, of Trenton, and William Kreiss, 40, of Yardley, PA, pleaded guilty in Trenton federal court to conspiracy to embezzle, steal, and obtain by fraud from the city of Trenton, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Trenton’s Department of Health and Human Services was required to provide services to identify lead sources in homes in Trenton where children had tested positive for elevated levels of lead in their …
NY Man Who Assaulted Female Passenger On Flight To Newark Gets 2 Years, No Parole
UPDATE: An upstate New York man who admitted assaulting a fellow passenger on a flight from Denver to Newark must spend two plea-bargained years in federal prison.
Ryan Manuella, 30, of Erie County, “moved to a vacant center seat next to a female passenger, who was sitting in a window seat” on the April 16, 2021 flight, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
Manuella, who didn't know the woman, then "touched the passenger without her consent," Sellinger said.
"The victim then yelled at him and left the row of seats," the U.S. attorney said.
Defense attorney Andrew Olesnyck…
Carjacking, Kidnapping, Rape: Multi-State Crime Spree Stretched Into PA, Feds Say
Four Delaware men are accused in a crime spree that stretched into Pennsylvania and allegedly included car theft, kidnapping, gunpoint robbery, and rape.
Twenty-four-year-old Tonnaire McNair-Matthews, 23-year-old David Hinson, 21-year-old Michael Caldwell, and 20-year-old Mahkiya Powell were each named in a July 13 indictment unsealed in a US District Court in Delaware this week, said the US Attorney's Office.
The spree, federal authorities say, took place on April 14 and began in Delaware. Investigators claim the four suspects were riding around in a stolen …
NJ Deli Fraud Scheme Mastermind Arrested In Thailand: Feds
An international company chairman charged over a purported scheme to manipulate the stock market — one that resulted in a bogus $100M valuation for a Gloucester County deli despite minimal sales — was arrested in Thailand, the feds confirmed.
Peter Coker Jr., 54, had been a fugitive since September when prosecutors filed 12 federal charges against him, his father, Peter Coker Sr., 80, and associate James Patten, 63.
The trio allegedly boosted the share prices of Hometown International Inc. and another firm, E-Waste Corp.
Matthew Reilly, a spokesperson for the New Jersey US Attorney’s Offic…
Philly Man Ran Interstate Sex Trafficking Scheme, Feds Say
A Philadelphia man will spend more than a decade in federal prison on sex trafficking charges, officials have announced.
Victor Clayton, 47, was sentenced to 15 years behind bars and 10 years supervised release for running an underage prostitution scheme that crossed state lines, US Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero said in a statement dated Thursday, Sept. 29.
On March 15, 2018, Clayton was arrested at a Dunn, North Carolina motel where police found him with two girls aged 16 and 15.
The 47-year-old had solicited the victims as sex workers at the motel, and had done the…
Jury Finds Lehigh Valley Man Guilty Of Cyberstalking Government Worker, Ex-GF, Ex-Wife
A jury found a Lehigh Valley man guilty of cyberstalking three different victims, including a government worker, his ex-girlfriend, and his ex-wife, authorities announced.
A five-day trial in Easton led to a jury finding Anthony Elonis, 39, of Bethlehem, guilty of three separate counts of cyberstalking on Friday, August 5, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Elonis was indicted by a Philadelphia grand jury in July after allegedly cyberstalking three victims between 2018 and 2021, the office said.
The victims included a government employee in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Elonis’ forme…
4 Convicted In PA Sex Trafficking Ring 'The Sevens'
Four members of a sex trafficking ring that ran out of a boarding house in southeastern Pennsylvania have been convicted, federal authorities said.
Shaquile Newson, 29, Alexander Malave, 31, Karvarise Person, 33, and James Goode, 47, were convicted on multiple charges, including conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors, the US Attorney’s Office said.
Federal investigators linked the quartet to "The Sevens," a "violent gang" that operated out of a 50-room boarding house on South 4th Street in Reading, t…
Owners Of Popular Philly Cheesesteak Joint Plead Guilty In Tax Fraud Scheme
The owners of a popular Philadelphia cheesesteak joint pleaded guilty Monday, May 9 to federal charges in a tax fraud scheme, authorities said.
Anthony Lucidonio, Sr., 84, of Philadelphia, and Nicholas Lucidonio, 56, of New Jersey, the owners of Tony Luke’s on Oregon Avenue were accused of hiding more than $8 million from the IRS for around a decade, according to the US Attorney's Office.
Federal prosecutors say the father-son duo did this by paying their employees in cash to avoid withholding payroll taxes between 2006 and 2016. The pair were indicted in 2020.
The pros…
Nationwide Hotel Chain's Corporate Credit Chief From NJ Admits Embezzling $300,000
A New Jersey employee who ran the company’s corporate credit card program for a nationwide hotel chain admitted embezzling $300,000, federal authorities said.
Marco Alvarez, 46, of Bloomfield, admitted that he “knowingly opened and used corporate credit cards to make $317,582 in unauthorized personal purchases” from April 2014 through January 2020, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
Alvarez, who worked as a senior analyst for strategic sourcing, tried to hide the thefts by “transferring credits owed to the hotel to these credit cards to offset the unauthorized charges made,” Sellinger …
$150M Bank Fraud: NJ Landlord Gets 8 Years, No Parole In Federal Prison
A Teaneck landlord must spend the next eight years in federal prison -- without parole -- for orchestrating a $150 million bank and securities fraud scheme.
Seth Levine, 53, was the founding partner, owner, and managing member of Norse Holdings, the parent company to more than 70 subsidiaries, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
Each of the subsidiary companies owned one or more multifamily buildings, mostly in New Jersey, he said.
Beginning in 2009, Levine directed a scheme for nearly a decade to fraudulently refinance the multifamily properties by lying on refinancing appli…
Career Criminal, 73, Admits Committing Murder-For-Hire Of NJ Politico
A hardened ex-con from Connecticut admitted that he and a longtime criminal pal from Philadelphia stabbed a political consultant to death and then torched his Jersey City apartment in a murder-for-hire attack.
George Bratsenis, 73, of Monroe, CT said he and his partner were paid to whack Michael Galdieri, the son of former State Sen. James Galdieri (D-Jersey City) and a prominent figure in local Hudson County politics.
Bratsenis and the other killer, Bomani Africa, 61, were hired by onetime political operative Sean Caddle, who’d been an aide to former State Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) a…
