151
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News & Events -
Essex County
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Written by Carmine DeMarco
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Wednesday, July 7, 2010 12:39 pm |
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 PSE&G issued the following Hot Weather Update Wednesday morning at 6:00 a.m.: "About 6,500 PSE&G customers are currently without power this morning due to the extreme heat. Municipalities with more than 500 customers affected include: Fairview, Elizabeth and Jersey City. The utility serves 2.1 million customers statewide.
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150
(1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)
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News & Events -
Essex County
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Written by Carmine DeMarco
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Tuesday, July 6, 2010 10:02 pm |
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 HARRINGTON PARK, N.J. - United Water New Jersey officials are urging customers to conserve water and cut back on outdoor usage during this heat wave. Customers used an extraordinary 174.9 million gallons of water on Monday, July 5, reported Jim Glozzy, general manager.
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149
(1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)
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News & Events -
Essex County
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Written by Carmine DeMarco
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Tuesday, July 6, 2010 11:17 am |
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 With temperatures expected to reach nearly 100 on Tuesday and Wednesday, the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) urges residents to take steps to avoid heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
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148
(1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)
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News & Events -
Essex County
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Written by Essex Online
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Tuesday, June 22, 2010 11:16 pm |
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 Everyone loves being outside in the summer, and whether you are vacationing at the Jersey Shore, biking in a state park, or just relaxing in your backyard, you need to safeguard you and your family from West Nile virus.
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147
(1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)
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News & Events -
Newark
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Written by Carmine DeMarco
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Tuesday, June 8, 2010 11:27 am |
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NEWARK, N.J. – A Newark, New Jersey man who ran a prostitution business that operated in Newark, Irvington, Elizabeth, and Atlantic City, New Jersey, pleaded guilty yesterday to sex trafficking and firearms charges, United States Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Kasiem Brown, 36, of Newark, New Jersey pleaded guilty before United States Senior District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez to two counts of an Indictment: sex trafficking of a minor girl by force, fraud, and coercion (Count Two), and conspiring to deal in firearms without a license (Count 19).
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, Brown operated an illegal prostitution business in New Jersey and elsewhere from July 2005 to October 11, 2006. During his plea hearing, Brown admitted to recruiting, enticing, harboring, providing, obtaining, and transporting seven minor girls and nine adult women victims to various cities within New Jersey to engage in prostitution.
Brown transported the girls and women to various venues to engage in prostitution for him, including strip clubs, sex parties in private homes, and various "tracks", locations known for prostitution activity.
Brown also admitted that he forced his victims to engage in prostitution by force – including by hitting, kicking, punching, beating them with belts, and sexual violence. He took the money the girls and women made and in turn, provided them with housing, food, clothing, cell phones, hotel rooms, and all other items necessary to work as prostitutes. Brown also stated that he obtained and provided false and fraudulent identification documents to the girls and women.
Brown said at his plea proceeding that at various times during the period from July 2003 to October 11, 2006, he illegally possessed firearms in order to protect himself, his victims, and the cash proceeds generated from his prostitution business. He also admitted to paying for 13 firearms in Alabama using two different straw purchasers, and transporting the firearms to New Jersey.
At sentencing, Brown faces 20 years in prison, lifetime supervised release, registration as a sex offender, restitution, forfeiture, and the notice to victims of his offense.
Brown is detained pending sentencing, scheduled for September 21, 2010, at 11:00 a.m.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Atlantic City Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward in Newark, and special agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Newark Field Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Matthew W. Horace, for the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea. He also thanked special agents of the ATF Atlanta Field Division, the ATF Nashville Field Division, and officers from the numerous local police departments who assisted in the investigation – including the Egg Harbor Township Police Department, Atlantic City Police Department, East Orange Police Department, Newark Police Department, Irvington Police Department, and Elizabeth Police Department.
The Government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Diana Carrig and Deborah Prisinzano Mikkelsen of the United States Attorney's Office Criminal Division in Camden.
 NEWARK, N.J. – A Newark, New Jersey man who ran a prostitution business that operated in Newark, Irvington, Elizabeth, and Atlantic City, New Jersey, pleaded guilty yesterday to sex trafficking and firearms charges, United States Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
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145
(1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)
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News & Events -
Beyond Essex
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Written by Carmine DeMarco
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Sunday, June 6, 2010 10:22 am |
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NEWARK, N.J. – Two New Jersey men have been arrested and charged in a federal criminal complaint with conspiring to kill, maim, and kidnap persons outside the United States, United States Attorney Paul J. Fishman, Newark Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward, New York Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, and New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness (OHSP) Director Charles B. McKenna announced today.
The defendants – United States citizens Mohamed Mahmood Alessa, 20, of North Bergen, New Jersey, and Carlos Eduardo Almonte, 24, of Elmwood Park, New Jersey – were taken into custody at JFK International Airport in New York on Saturday, where they intended to take separate flights to Egypt on their way to Somalia to join designated Foreign Terrorist Organization Al Shabaab and wage violent jihad.
Waiting for the defendants at the airport was a law enforcement team holding arrest warrants issued by the United States District Court in Newark.
Al Shabaab is tied to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terroristic network.
The defendants are expected to appear on Monday, June 7, 2010, at 11:00 a.m. before United States Magistrate Judge Madeline Cox Arleo in Newark federal court.
According to the Complaint unsealed today, in October 2006, the FBI received a tip concerning the defendants' activities. As the investigation continued, an NYPD Intelligence Division undercover officer recorded numerous meetings and conversations with them, during which the defendants discussed and prepared to carry out their plan.
Those preparations included saving thousands of dollars, physically conditioning themselves, engaging in paintball and other tactical training, acquiring military gear and apparel for use overseas, and purchasing airline tickets to Egypt with the intent to then travel to Somalia.
The defendants also discussed their obligation to wage violent jihad and at times expressed a willingness to commit acts of violence in the United States. For example, on November 29, 2009, Alessa stated to Almonte and the UC: "They only fear you when you have a gun and when you – when you start killing them, and when you – when you take their head, and you go like this, and you behead it on camera . . . We'll start doing killing here, if I can't do it over there [Italics indicate translation]."
The next day, Alessa stated to the undercover officer: "I leave this time, God Willing, I never come back. I'll never see this crap hole. Only way I would come back here is if I was in the land of jihad and the leader ordered me to come back here and do something here. Ah, I love that."
On April 25, 2010, Almonte stated that there would soon be American troops in Somalia, which was good because it would not be as gratifying to kill only Africans.
The defendants also watched and played for the undercover officer numerous video and audio recordings that promoted violent jihad, including lectures by Anwar al-Awlaki and videos featuring attacks by Al Shabaab and other terrorist groups.
U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman stated: "This case demonstrates the seriousness with which our Office and our law enforcement partners regard those who seek to join the ranks of violent extremists. When Alessa and Almonte schemed to engage in violent jihad, we were listening. When they attempted to leave the country, we were waiting. We will continue to be vigilant and to protect against terrorism no matter where its adherents intend to do harm."
Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward said, "This case exemplifies the close coordination of resources between the New Jersey JTTF and NYPD Intel. During the course of this investigation, the subjects were confirmed to be committed individuals with operational intent. Their planned travel overseas to link with a Foreign Terrorist Organization precipitated their arrests."
"I want to commend United States Attorney Paul J. Fishman and his assistants, along with the Newark JTTF and our other Federal and New Jersey partners who worked closely with the NYPD’s Intelligence Division in this important case. As in gun trafficking and narcotics investigations, the NYPD cannot acknowledge publicly individual undercover police officers who have infiltrated suspects. Nonetheless, we are indebted to them. Even when individuals plan to support terrorist activity abroad, we remain concerned that once they reach their foreign destinations they may be redirected against targets back home, as we've seen in the past. We are also concerned that should they remain undetected and fail in their foreign aspirations that they might strike domestically, as was discussed as a possibility in this case. The New York City Police Department has long been concerned about the threat posed by individuals radicalized in the United States, and welcomes its emphasis in the President's National Security Strategy published last month," said Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly.
"The radicalization of our youth, like gang recruitment, is real and continues to pose concerns," said Director Charles B. McKenna. "We must be vigilant in stopping our young men and women from being co-opted and trained to do us harm."
If convicted of the charge, the defendants face a maximum potential penalty of life in prison.
U.S. Attorney Fishman praised the work of the FBI and Newark Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), the NYPD, and the New Jersey OHSP in conducting the investigation and apprehension of the defendants. He also thanked the FBI in New York for its assistance in making the arrests.
The JTTF is made up of agents and officers of the Department of State, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection, New Jersey State Police, Jersey City Police Department, Bayonne Police Department, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and other law enforcement agencies.
The Government is represented by Assistant Unites States Attorneys Andrew Kogan and L. Judson Welle of the United States Attorney's Office National Security Unit, and Alamdar S. Hamdani, Trial Attorney, Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
 NEWARK, N.J. – Two New Jersey men have been arrested and charged in a federal criminal complaint with conspiring to kill, maim, and kidnap persons outside the United States, United States Attorney Paul J. Fishman, Newark Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward, New York Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, and New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness (OHSP) Director Charles B. McKenna announced today.
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144
(1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)
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News & Events -
Newark
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Written by Carmine DeMarco
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Friday, June 4, 2010 12:34 pm |
 NEWARK, N.J. – Maximo Diaz, age 22, of Newark, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiring to defraud the United States Department of the Treasury by filing phony tax returns which generated over $200,000 in fraudulent income tax refund checks for himself and co-conspirators, United States Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced. |
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143
(1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)
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News & Events -
Verona
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Written by Karen DeMarco
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Tuesday, June 1, 2010 11:07 am |
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NJ TRANSIT announced the lucky winners of its Bon Jovi ticket sweepstakes, which launched last week to give customers an incentive to check out its Summer Services on njtransit.com/summer.
The grand prize winner in the random drawing was Mikelle Komor, of Verona, New Jersey, who received ten tickets to see Bon Jovi perform live at New Meadowlands Stadium on Saturday, May 29, as well as complimentary rail transportation to the show from any NJ TRANSIT rail station.
The ten second-prize winners, who each received four concert tickets, plus rail transportation, were:
Laura Morton of Oakhurst, NJ
Juan Florez of Edgewater, NJ
Bridget Beishline of Nutley, NJ
Melinda Brennan of Neptune, NJ
Myrrh Caplan of Mendham, NJ
Mary Anne DeRosa of Hackensack, NJ
Rosemary McLaughlin of Elmwood Park, NJ
Renuka Sirigiri of Woodbridge, NJ
Jim Rehill of Bayonne, NJ
Martha Restrepo of Summit, NJ
The Bon Jovi ticket sweepstakes was designed to promote NJ TRANSIT's "Jersey’s Got It" public education campaign, which highlights summer attractions within the Garden State that are accessible by public transportation.
 VERONA, N.J. - NJ TRANSIT announced the lucky winners of its Bon Jovi ticket sweepstakes, which launched last week to give customers an incentive to check out its Summer Services on njtransit.com/summer.
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142
(1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)
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News & Events -
Livingston
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Written by Carmine DeMarco
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Tuesday, June 1, 2010 10:00 am |
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LIVINGSTON, N.J. - Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor announced that seven people, including a Livingston doctor, have been sentenced to state prison for their roles in a Newark-based narcotics ring that distributed millions of dollars a year in illegal prescription painkillers such as OxyContin.
The defendants sentenced on Wednesday had previously pleaded guilty to racketeering charges filed as a result of Operation Pandora, an investigation led by the New Jersey State Police and the Division of Criminal Justice.
The investigation led to the arrest in January 2007 of the leader of the ring, Mohamed Hassanain, 44, of West Orange, and 19 other members. All of the defendants have pleaded guilty. Hassanain pleaded guilty on July 31, 2009, while on trial, to racketeering and money laundering. The state will recommend that he be ordered to serve 18 years in prison when he is sentenced.
According to Director Taylor, Dr. Mario Comesanas, 53, of Livingston, was sentenced yesterday to 15 years in prison by Superior Court Judge Michael L. Ravin in Essex County. He pleaded guilty on March 19, 2007 to first-degree racketeering and second-degree distribution of narcotics for writing thousands of fraudulent prescriptions for the ring. Comesanas also forfeited $593,000 seized in his home and permanently forfeited his New Jersey medical license.
Judge Ravin yesterday also sentenced the following six defendants who served as runners for the ring, filling fraudulent painkiller prescriptions at pharmacies in order to supply the ring.
Enin Martin, 30, of West Orange, was sentenced to 10 years in prison;
Tereke M. Hammond, 33, of Newark, was sentenced to 15 years in prison;
Stephanie McLucas, 57, of Maplewood, was sentenced to 12 years in prison;
Jason Edwin Allen Jr., 30, of Newark, McLucas’ son, was sentenced to seven years in prison;
Tasheemah N. Tyson, 29, of Newark, was sentenced to five years in prison; and
Kimyatta L. Jones, 31, of Newark, was sentenced to five years in prison.
The cases were prosecuted by Supervising Deputy Attorney General Mark Eliades, chief of the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau, and Deputy Attorneys General Mark Ondris and Paul Salvatoriello. Deputy Attorneys General Eliades and Ondris represented the state at the sentencing hearing yesterday.
Attorney General Dow credited Detectives Thomas McEnroe and others within the State Police Major Crime and Intelligence Units and detectives in the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau North Squad. She also credited the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration New Jersey Division, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, members of the NY/NJ High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program, and the New York State Police for assisting in the investigation.
The investigation determined that Hassanain and his deputies within the ring provided several hundred names a week to Dr. Comesanas, who was paid up to $100 per name to write a "set" of prescriptions, including 60 OxyContin pills, 90 Percocet pills and vitamins for patients that did not exist or whom he never saw.
Hassanain's cousin, pharmacist Ahmed F. "Felix" Aly, 36, of Union, knowingly filled the forged prescriptions at his pharmacy, RGN Pharmacy on Elizabeth Avenue in Newark. Aly pleaded guilty to racketeering on Oct. 30, 2009 and is awaiting sentencing. Prescriptions were also filled at other pharmacies.
Hassanain, who ran the ring from his home in West Orange and his business on Clinton Avenue in Newark, admitted that he maintained various "stash" houses around the Essex County area where he would accumulate tens of thousands of pills per week for wholesale distribution. At the "stash" houses, pills were packaged in bulk and individuals from the Bronx would come weekly to transport the narcotics and provide Hassanain with tens of thousands of dollars. The Bronx ring in turn sold some of the drugs to a ring in the Boston area.
On Jan. 25, 2007, the investigating agencies executed search warrants at 10 locations and upon five vehicles utilized by the enterprise. More than 40,000 narcotics pills, approximately $650,000 in cash, nine weapons, and thousands of prescriptions, both blank and executed, were recovered. The state seized $4.4 million in assets as proceeds of racketeering, including $3.6 million in real estate, a $95,000 Mercedes S-550 owned by Hassanain, and the $593,000 in cash forfeited by Comesanas.
ESSEX COUNTY NEWS LOCATIONS: Livingston, West Orange, Newark, Maplewood, NJ, New Jersey
 LIVINGSTON, N.J. - Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor announced that seven people, including a Livingston doctor, have been sentenced to state prison for their roles in a Newark-based narcotics ring that distributed millions of dollars a year in illegal prescription painkillers such as OxyContin.
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134
(1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)
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News & Events -
Beyond Essex
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Written by Carmine DeMarco
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Monday, August 3, 2009 5:09 pm |
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 TRENTON, N.J. - Members of the New Jersey State Police Cyber Crimes Unit arrested a Union County man on July 30 on charges of stealing an Internet domain name, the first known arrest for this crime in New Jersey and perhaps in the country.
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News & Events -
Beyond Essex
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Written by Carmine DeMarco
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Thursday, July 23, 2009 2:57 pm |
 NEWARK, N.J. – The mayors of Ridgefield, Hoboken, and Secaucus, the Jersey City deputy mayor and council president, two state assemblymen, numerous other public officials and political figures, and five rabbis from New Jersey and New York were among 44 individuals charged today in a federal investigation of public corruption and a high-volume, international money laundering conspiracy. |
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123
(1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)
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News & Events -
Bloomfield
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Written by Carmine DeMarco
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Tuesday, June 23, 2009 7:46 pm |
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 PATERSON, N.J. - A Bloomfield, New Jersey man was attacked in Paterson Monday afternoon as he made a commercial delivery, police say.
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News & Events -
Beyond Essex
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Written by Carmine DeMarco
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Tuesday, June 23, 2009 6:49 pm |
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 NEWARK, N.J. – A Newton, New Jersey man who moderated a website devoted to child pornography and sex with children was sentenced on Tuesday to 90 years in federal prison for his convictions on six counts of advertising child pornography, one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography, Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra, Jr. announced.
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News & Events -
Beyond Essex
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Written by Gina Kim
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Tuesday, June 23, 2009 5:06 pm |
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 BAYONNE, N.J. - The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services announced on Tuesday a fifth death of a New Jersey resident with novel H1N1 influenza.
The individual was a 79-year old Hudson County woman, who died on Friday, June 19 in Bayonne Medical Center. |
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News & Events -
Beyond Essex
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Written by Gina Kim
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Sunday, June 21, 2009 10:59 am |
 TRENTON, N.J. - The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services announced on Friday a fourth death of a New Jersey resident with novel H1N1 influenza. |
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News & Events -
Beyond Essex
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Written by Gina Kim
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Thursday, June 18, 2009 5:57 pm |
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TRENTON, N.J. - The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services announced on Thursday a third death of a New Jersey resident with novel H1N1 influenza. The individual was a 10-year old Sussex County boy who died yesterday in Morristown Memorial Hospital. The child was last in school on June 11 and had no symptoms. He became ill on June 12, was hospitalized two days later with cough and fever. |
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News & Events -
Newark
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Written by Karen DeMarco
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Thursday, June 18, 2009 1:04 pm |
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 NEWARK, N.J. - A Continental Airlines pilot died in mid-flight on a Boeing 777 traveling from Brussels, Belgium to Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, the Federal Aviation Administration has confirmed.
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111
(1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)
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News & Events -
Beyond Essex
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Written by Karen DeMarco
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Wednesday, June 17, 2009 5:05 pm |
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TRENTON, N.J. - The New Jersey State Department of Health and Senior Services announced on Wednesday the second death of a New Jersey resident with novel H1N1 influenza. |
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News & Events -
Beyond Essex
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Written by Carmine DeMarco
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Wednesday, June 17, 2009 3:09 pm |
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 NEWARK, N.J. - A series of motions made today by former New Jersey State Senator Joseph Congilio were all denied by U.S. District Court Judge Dennis M. Cavanaugh in Newark, New Jersey.
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109
(1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)
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News & Events -
Montclair
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Written by Jeff Davidson
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Monday, June 15, 2009 6:04 pm |
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 TRENTON, N.J. - This past Saturday, a 49-year-old Essex County man became the first New Jersey resident to die of the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, the Department of Health and Senior Services announced today.
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