Feds: Cliffside Park Dealer Had Softball-Sized Heroin Bags, Stolen Gun, Stashed In Bronx Garage
A Cliffside Park man had heroin bags the size of softballs, a stolen handgun with a high-capacity magazine and tens of thousands of dollars in cash stashed in a minivan parked in a public garage near the Bronx Botanical Gardens, federal authorities said.
DEA agents followed Jose Pena, a/k/a “Gucci,” 31, as he drove from Cliffside Park to the garage, parked next to a minivan and got into it, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said.
Approaching the minivan, they immediately spotted the bags of heroin, he said.
They also found the stolen Glock .22-caliber pistol -- loaded with 13 bullets in a larg…
Kidnapper Admits Beating, Stabbing Ex, Binding Her In Christmas Lights, Driving From NJ To NC
A Manhattan man admitted Monday that he kidnapped his former lover in Newark by binding her in Christmas lights and then drove south toward Florida before federal authorities captured him in North Carolina.
Rudolf Szoradi, 50, who pleaded guilty to kidnapping and interstate domestic violence, threatened to kill the victim while attacking her in his relative’s basement on Dec. 15, 2017, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said.
The woman, who’d gotten a protection order against Szoradi, was choked, punched, kicked and then stabbed and slashed with a knife before being tied up and taken across stat…
Feds: Teaneck Vending Machine/Jukebox Company Owner Stole $186,000 From Employee Pension Fund
A well-known Teaneck businessman whose vending machine and jukebox company paid five figures earlier this year to settle a copyright suit embezzled $186,000 from his employees’ pension fund, federal prosecutors charged.
Howard Preschel, 62, began skimming the money from a trust fund at CMG Vending Inc. five years ago, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said Friday.
CMG -- which Preschel founded -- operated, leased, and rented vending machines throughout New Jersey and New York, Carpenito said.
“To conceal the ongoing embezzlement, Preschel failed to inform the participants and beneficiaries tha…
Feds: Five Caught, One Sought In Thefts Of $300,000 In Checks From North Jersey Mailboxes
At least $300,000 in checks were stolen from mailboxes in Bergen, Passaic and other counties by a Paterson-based ring that immediately deposited them into bank accounts, said federal authorities who arrested five accused crew members and were searching for a sixth.
Some “broke into mail collection boxes using pry bars, usually late at night…then fraudulently deposited them into various bank accounts, often within a day of being stolen,” U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said Monday.
Besides Bergen and Passaic, the defendants stole checks from U.S. Postal Service boxes in Morris, Essex and Middl…
