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Accused JC Scammers Hit With More Charges, Total Take Rises By $400,000
Three Indian Americans from North Jersey charged in a hotel supply company scam were re-arrested this week after authorities said they learned that the trio stiffed victims by three times as much money as they’d originally believed.
Married couple Viral Patel, 38, and Priyanka Patel, 33, of Jersey City and Pratik Patel, 35, of Ramsey, were originally charged last December with pocketing $200,000 for services that were never provided by their Janvi Hotel Supply company on Thorne Street, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said.
Members of the prosecutor’s Special Investigations Unit conti…
Secaucus Couple Scammed Victims Out Of $2.2M In 'Publishers Clearing House Lottery' Scheme: PD
A couple from Secaucus is facing a litany of charges after scamming residents in multiple states out of more nearly $2.2 million, police said.
Akeem Lee and Majda Hodzic-Lee called victims in Florida, Minnesota, Arizona, Kansas, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Nebraska, saying they'd won the "Publishers Clearing House Lottery," Secaucus Police Chief Dennis Miller said.
In exchange for the vehicles and large sums of money the victims were told they won, they were required by Lee and Hodzic-Lee to send cash, money orders and/or gift cards for taxes, fees and IRS …
Man Promised Victims Luxury Cars, Instead He Kept Their $202K: Somerset Prosecutor
A 32-year-old Rahway man has been arrested after he was given more than $200,000 to purchase luxury vehicles that the victims never received, authorities said.
Jonathan Najarro, who ran J and J Auto Sound and Security Corporation, became the center of an investigation last October, when the victims reported he had $202,920 of their money, Somerset County Prosecutor John P. McDonald said.
The theft occurred between July 2022 and October 2022 in Somerville, said McDonald alongside Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Chief of County Detectives Francisco Roman Jr., and Somerville…
NJ Man Steals $8K+ From Mechanicsburg Woman Using Passport At PA Bank: Police
An elderly woman has lost nearly $9,000 from her bank account after a New Jersey man used a fake passport card at a bank in Bethlehem, PA, police announced on Wednesday, Nov. 22.
Dax Perez Velazquez, 49 of West New York, NJ, somehow obtained a US passport card with his image on it but the elderly woman's name, and used it at a Member's 1st bank in Bethlehem, PA on September 30, Lower Allen Township police detailed in the release.
The man initially made a cash withdrawal of $6,800 using the woman's account info and his fraudulent passport card at a teller window inside the bank and the…
Guilty: Woman Defrauded Medicaid By Billing For NJ Ex's Care While Really At Work In Michigan
A substitute teacher from Michigan was convicted of billing Medicaid for giving care to her stroke-stricken Morris County ex-boyfriend while she was actually back home at work.
Michael Ann Ellis, 62, of Flint, MI, was found guilty by jurors in Morristown who heard testimony from, among others, a schools superintendent from her district during a four-day trial, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said.
Evidence also included timesheets and payroll records with school locations, dates, and hours for more than four years that Ellis collected $45,000 from the New Jersey Medicaid Prog…
Scam ALERT: 'Traveler' Busted In Attempted $15K Driveway Repair Ripoff In Upper Saddle River
A transient was arrested after scamming an Upper Saddle River homeowner out of $2,000 and then demanding $13,000 more, authorities said.
William Connors, 50, solicited the work from a resident on the north side of town by offering "leftover materials from a nearby job," USR Police Capt. Edward Kane said.
Connors got a $2,000 down payment for the fraud on Wednesday, Oct. 4, then returned to the victim's home on Thursday and insisted on $13,000 more, the captain said.
The driveway had to be entirely replaced as a result, Kane noted.
Connors, meanwhile, was arrested by borough police who dis…
Door-To-Door Contractors Bilk Bloomfield Victim Out Of $125K: Police
A pair of door-to-door contractors were arrested after police say they scammed a North Jersey woman out of $125,000.
The victim hired Patrick O'Doherty and Anthony Doherty to repair to sets of concrete steps for $3,800, paid in full in advance, on Aug. 20, Bloomfield police said.
Once the demolition began on the steps, Doherty and O'Doherty would show up sporadically, usually in the late afternoon hours, to do more demolition work.
The problem was, though, every time they came, they'd perform more demolition work and ask for more money — never repairing the actual steps, police said.
The …
$744K+ Lottery Ticket Forged By Woman, Lower Swatara Twp. Police Say
A Pennsylvania woman "manipulated and forged" a lottery ticket so it would appear that she won several hundreds of thousands of dollars, police announced on Friday.
Kathy Louise Free, 61, of State Line, changed a number on a Pennsylvania Lottery Tocket making it appear that she won $744, 260 in Sept. 2022, according to the Lower Swatara Township Police.
The following criminal charges were filed against Free on Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023:
Felony Criminal Attempt Theft by Deception.
Felony Forgery.
Misdemeanor Possession of an Instrument of Crime.
She was released on $1,000 unsecured b…
Atlantic City Police Payroll Employee Billed For Hours She Wasn't At Work: Prosecutor
A civilian employee of the Atlantic City Police Department, who was in charge of payroll, billed for hours of work when she wasn't at work, authorities said.
Suzanne Ricketts, 43, of Pleasantville, was indicted by an Atlantic County grand jury for official misconduct, theft by deception, and computer crimes on Thursday, July 20, according to the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office.
In 2020, the Atlantic City Police Department began investigating alleged discrepancies in Ricketts’ timesheets, the prosecutor said.
Review of the surveillance and computer systems showed differen…
