Dead Passengers, Fake Drivers: NJ Woman, Colombian Lover's $13M Scheme Unravels
Some of the passengers were dead. Some of the drivers had never driven a car.
But a New Jersey woman and her Colombian lover apparently had no trouble taking taxpayers for a ride.
For years, prosecutors say, Jael Watts, 45, of Alloway, operated Pearl Transit Corporation, a New Jersey-based company that purported to have drivers scattered across the country giving rides to elderly and disabled people while also conducting outreach for homeless Americans.
Watts and Luis Pino-Copete, 42, of Bogota, Colombia, were convicted following a multi-week federal trial in Utica of orchestrating a spraw…
PA Parents Sentenced: 'Treated Animals Better' Than 7 Children, Judge Says
A father and mother who forced their seven children to live in filthy conditions in a rundown trailer in Bucks County were sentenced to up to 16 years in Pennsylvania State Prison on child neglect charges, authorities said.
Shane Robertson, 48, and Crystal Robertson, 38, of West Rockhill Township, appeared Tuesday, Aug. 20 before Common Pleas Judge Charissa J. Liller, who called them “two of the worst parents I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“It is appalling that you would live in these conditions with your seven children,” Liller said. “You treated your animals better than you treated you…
Queens Man Convicted Of Sex Trafficking Offenses
A 23-year-old man from Queens has been convicted of sex trafficking a pair of minors, including one that lived in a residential treatment facility in Westchester County.
Following a five-day trial, Luidji “Zoe” Benjamin, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and sex trafficking of a minor, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman announced this week.
In 2015, Benjamin “engaged in sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of two minors,” Berman said. Benjamin recruited, enticed, harbored, transported, provided, obtained, and maintained women for the purpose of commercial se…
