WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service issued the following news release on Feb. 26, 2024: The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) today announced it has a cooperative agreement with New Jersey under the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program (RFSI). Through this agreement, USDA and New Jersey are working together to offer over $3 million in competitive grant funding for projects designed to buil  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 -- The U.S. Air Force Auxiliary Civil Air Patrol issued the following news: The California Wing's Fullerton Composite Squadron 56 is sending a cadet team to the CyberPatriot National Youth Cyber Defense Competition national finals for the fourth straight year and the sixth time in seven years, joined by entries from the New Jersey and Virginia wings. The Raritan Valley Composite Squadron from New Jersey will be making a second straight appearance on the national stage The  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 -- The office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia issued the following news release: Zhong Jie Chen, 47, formerly of Columbia, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to misappropriating $354,520 of COVID-19 relief funds that he was supposed to use to operate his restaurants. Chen used the misappropriated funds to engage in day trading. The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and FBI Special Agent in Charge David J. Scott of the Washington Field Off  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 -- The U.S. Department of Education issued the following media advisory on Feb. 26, 2024: * * * On Monday, Feb. 26, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona will travel to Union City, New Jersey, to highlight new resources for early school success and tour the Eugenio Maria de Hostos Early Childhood Education Center. Afterward, Secretary Cardona will discuss the need for increased career pathways and career and technical education (CTE) programming and apprenticeships. H  more

NEW YORK, Feb. 28 -- The Environmental Protection Agency issued the following news release on Feb. 27, 2024: Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that three New Jersey Superfund sites are among the over 100 sites across the country getting more than $1 billion for cleanup projects as part of President Biden's Investing in America agenda. This funding is made possible by the President's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and will launch new cleanup projects at 25 Superfund   more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 -- The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau issued the following public notice (WC Docket No. 23-270): * * * Re: Copper Retirement Network Change Certification Received Verizon New Jersey Inc. (Verizon), an incumbent local exchange carrier (LEC), has filed certification that public notice of network change(s) involving the retirement of copper has been provided through its publicly accessible Internet site, as required by section 51.329(a)(2) of   more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 -- The U.S. Department of Labor Employee Benefits Security Administration issued the following news brief on Feb. 27, 2024: * * * Date of action: Feb. 7, 2024 Type of action: Motion for default judgment granted by the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. The action follows a complaint and motion filed by the U.S. Department of Labor on June 15, 2023. Defendants: * Marlton Pike Precision LLC 401(k) and profit-sharing plan * Antonio L. Sala Background: A  more

NEWARK, New Jersey, Feb. 27 -- The office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey issued the following news release on Feb. 26, 2024: A former corrections officer at Bayside State Prison in Leesburg, New Jersey, today admitted to depriving two inmates of their civil rights by failing to intervene when the inmates were being assaulted and suffered bodily injury, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced. Joshua Hand, 34, of Millville, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. Distric  more

NEWARK, New Jersey, Feb. 28 -- The office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey issued the following news release on Feb. 27, 2024: A Bronx, New York, man admitted his role in a kickback conspiracy involving COVID-19 testing, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today. David Weathers, 61, of Bronx, New York, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Brian R. Martinotti in Newark federal court on Feb. 26, 2024, to an indictment charging him with conspiring to violate the An  more

TRENTON, New Jersey, March 2 -- The office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey issued the following news release on March 1, 2024: A Florida man admitted his role in a durable medical equipment kickback scheme, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today. Steve Chicoye, 55, of Orlando, Florida, pleaded guilty on Feb. 29, 2024, before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp in Trenton federal court to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit health c  more

NEWARK, New Jersey, Feb. 28 -- The office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey issued the following news release on Feb. 27, 2024: An India- and New Jersey-based man who operated jewelry companies in New York City's Diamond District was charged with spearheading a scheme to illegally evade customs duties for millions of dollars of jewelry imports into the United States and with illegally processing millions of dollars through unlicensed money transmitting businesses, U.S. Attorne  more

NEWARK, New Jersey, Feb. 28 -- The office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey issued the following news release on Feb. 27, 2024: The shadow chief executive officer of National Realty Investment Advisors LLC (NRIA) today admitted orchestrating a scheme to defraud more than 2,000 investors in a $658 million Ponzi scheme and conspiring to evade millions of dollars in tax liabilities, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced. Thomas Nicholas Salzano, aka "Nicholas Salzano," 65,  more

BUFFALO, New York, Feb. 28 -- The office of the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York issued the following news release on Feb. 27, 2024: U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that James Okolo, 61, of West Orange, New Jersey, who was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, was sentenced to 12 months in prison by U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra, Jr. Assistant U.S. Attorney, Michael DiGiacomo, who handled the case, stated that Okolo and others devised a scheme to def  more

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, New Jersey, Feb. 29 -- The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command issued the following news release: The Mission Safety Team from the Site Operations Office at Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division Lakehurst recently received the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Squadron Excellence in Safety Large Industrial Award for 2023. Last year, the team worked together to target potential injury-causing issues. As a result, on-duty civilian/military mishaps decreased by 5  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued the following news release: GALVESTON, Texas -- A retired Paterson, New Jersey, police sergeant has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for distributing child sexual abuse material following an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Houston's Galveston office, the Pearland and Galveston police, and the Houston Metro Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.   more

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas, Feb. 28 -- The office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas issued the following news release: A federal jury has returned a guilty verdict against a 51-year-old man for unlawfully transporting undocumented aliens, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani. The jury deliberated for approximately 45 minutes before finding Andrew Rafael Martinez-Peralta, Newark, New Jersey, guilty following a two-day trial. On July 5, 2023, Martinez-Peralta drove a trac  more

NEWARK, New Jersey, Feb. 28 -- The office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey issued the following news release on Feb. 27, 2024: A California man was arraigned today on charges relating to his role in a fraud and kickback scheme that caused more than $10 million in losses to Medicare, Attorney for the United States Vikas Khanna announced. Adam Wayne Owens, 43, of Riverside, California, is charged in a superseding indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fr  more