NEWARK, New Jersey, March 30 -- The Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Rachael A. Honig, issued the following news release on March 29, 2021: A New York man was sentenced today to 33 months in prison for participating in a scheme to buy and sell over $2 million in stolen property, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced. James Olla, 29, of Brooklyn, New York, previously pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez to a superseding   more

NEWARK, New Jersey, March 30 -- The Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jerse, Rachael A. Honig, issued the following news release on March 29, 2021: A Pennsylvania man today admitted his role in a conspiracy to receive kickbacks and bribes from laboratories in exchange for referrals of patient DNA samples and genetic tests, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced. Jeremy Richey, 40, of Mars, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Brian R. M  more

NEWARK, New Jersey, March 26 -- The Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Rachael A. Honig, issued the following news release: A second man from California has been charged with conspiring to launder money that originated from fraudulently obtained loans from the U.S. Small Business Association and from a business email compromise scheme that targeted a law firm based in New Jersey, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced. Anthony Debose Hannah, 57, of Moreno Valley, Cal  more

PICATINNY ARSENAL, New Jersey, April 1 -- The U.S. Army Materiel Command issued the following news: Having served as an Army engineer for 20 years, Anthony Lewis recognizes a problem when he sees one. Armed with a determination to take challenges head on, he recently brought significant improvements and new flexibility to a key system Soldiers use to secure battlefield resources. And in the process, he also became the newest U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command civilian employee to earn  more

WASHINGTON, March 30 -- The U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued the following news release on March 29, 2021: The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) today identified nearly 800,000 acres as Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) in the New York Bight, between Long Island and the New Jersey coast. The agency will now initiate an environmental review, with public input, on these areas in federal waters for potential offshore wind leasing. The announcement came duri  more

WASHINGTON, March 30 -- The U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued the following news release on March 29, 2021: The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) today announced a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Construction and Operations Plan (COP) submitted by Ocean Wind LLC (Ocean Wind) that would allow it to construct and operate an 1,100 megawatt (MW) wind energy facility offshore New Jersey. The publication  more

NEW YORK, April 3 -- The Environmental Protection Agency issued the following news release: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a cleanup plan to address waterbodies of the Sherwin-Williams/Hilliards Creek Site in Gibbsboro, Lindenwold, and Voorhees, New Jersey. The proposed plan calls for the dredging of contaminated sediment, along with excavation and capping of floodplain soil at Silver Lake, Bridgewood Lake, Kirkwood Lake, and Hilliards Creek. "The cleanup of these   more

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, New Jersey, April 3 -- The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command issued the following news release: Aviation Electronics Technician 1st Class Maria English, a petty officer first class attached to Fleet Readiness Center East Detachment McGuire, recently earned the title of 2020 Navy Reserve Force Shore Sailor of the Year. The Navy Reserve announced the award March 22 on behalf of Chief of Navy Reserve and Commander, Navy Reserve Force Vice Adm. John Mustin. "We could  more

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia, April 1 -- The Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Raj Parekh, issued the following news release on March 30, 2021: A New Jersey woman was sentenced today to two years in prison for engaging in a bribery and procurement fraud scheme while she served as a contracting officer for the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). "The defendant sold out her position by receiving bribe payments in exchange for providing preferential treatment to a contracting   more

NEWARK, New Jersey, April 3 -- The Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Rachael A. Honig, issued the following news release on April 2, 2021: Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig today announced an update on the Office's enforcement efforts to combat COVID-19 related fraud, including schemes targeting the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, and Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs, and schemes involving the price-gouging and hoarding  more

SOMERSET, New Jersey, March 31 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service New Jersey office issued the following news release: The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has entered into an interagency agreement with the Forest Service to add up to 600 of its dams to NRCS's Nationwide DamWatch(R) system, including 20 dams in New Jersey. DamWatch(R) is a web-based application developed to assist with monitoring an  more

SOMERSET, New Jersey, April 3 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service New Jersey office issued the following news release: USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in New Jersey is now accepting applications through May 7, 2021 for the Conservation Stewardship Program's (CSP) FY21 funding. The program not only helps producers maintain and improve their existing conservation efforts but assists them in adopting additional conservation activities  more

WASHINGTON, April 3 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service issued the following news release: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and private landowners have partnered to protect more than 5 million acres of wetlands, grasslands, and prime farmland -- an area the size of New Jersey. Since October, USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has enrolled 110,000 acres in new conservation easements, bringing USDA to this important conservatio  more

WASHINGTON, April 1 -- The U.S. Postal Service Inspector General issued the following audit report (No. 21-075-R21) on March 31, 2021, entitled "Management of HCR Contractor Failures at the New Jersey International Network Distribution Center": Here are excerpts: Background This report presents the results of our self-initiated audit to assess the management of Highway Contract Route (HCR) irregularities due to contractor failure at the New Jersey International (NJI) Network Distribution Cent  more

NEW YORK, March 31 -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-New York District issued the following news release: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) recently signed a Project Partnership Agreement (PPA) for the Passaic River Tidal Coastal Storm Risk Management Project, New Jersey. The PPA was signed March 17, 2021 by Col. Matthew W. Luzzatto, Commander of the New York District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Mr. David Rosenblatt, Ass  more

WASHINGTON, April 3 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued the following news release: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and private landowners have partnered to protect more than 5 million acres of wetlands, grasslands, and prime farmland -- an area the size of New Jersey. Since October, USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has enrolled 110,000 acres in new conservation easements, bringing USDA to this important conservation milestone. "USDA is committed to partn  more