Tag: New Jersey
Black rag dolls meant to be abused get pulled from shelves – comes with instructions to “slam against the wall”
They’re called “Feel Better Dolls.”
In the instructions, buyers are told to take the black rag dolls — which come with red, green, black and yellow hair made of yarn, styled in dreadlocks — and “find a wall to slam” them against.
“Whenever things don’t go well and you want to hit the wall and yell, here’s a little ‘feel better doll,’” the instructions read. “Just grab it firmly by the legs…and as you whack the ‘feel good doll’ do not forget to yell I FEEL GOOD, I FEEL GOOD.”
The toys were being pulled from shelves in New Jersey this week after sparking outrage among residents and state officials.
“This doll is offensive and disturbing on so many levels,” said Assemblywoman Angela McKnight, who represents Bayonne and other areas of Jersey City.
“It is clearly made in an inappropriate representation of a black person and instructs people to ‘slam’ and ‘whack’ her,” the official charged in a statement. “Racism has no place in the world and I will not tolerate it, especially not in this district.”
The dolls were being sold at a One Dollar Zone store in Bayonne and at least two other locations across the Garden State, though it’s unclear where.
Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis blasted them as “insensitive” in a Facebook post this week— saying they “can certainly be considered racist.”
“Aside from the shock of seeing such an insensitive product being sold in our community, I am grateful for the people that saw it and said something immediately,” Davis said. “We will not tolerate any symbol of hate and division within our community! #WeAreBayonne.”
One Dollar Zone President Ricky Shah issued an apology after pulling the dolls Monday. The Paterson-based company was blaming their existence on a simple error of not checking a large shipment of new items — centered around an “I Love NY” theme — that had come into their stores recently.
“This somehow slipped through the cracks,” Shah said in a statement.
The manufacturer of the dolls — the Harvey Hutter Co., based in New York — couldn’t be reached Friday. Shah claimed that it appears to no longer be in business.
The company’s supplier, Global Souvenir Marketing, did not respond to requests for comment.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/07/26/black-rag-dolls-meant-to-be-abused-get-pulled-from-shelves/
Photo Credit: Angela McKnight via AP
Millionaire to be sentenced for having sex with teen on autopiloted plane
A New Jersey millionaire could be heading to the slammer for the next five years after engaging in sexual acts with a minor — including once on his private plane while it was in autopilot mode, according to a federal complaint.
Stephen Bradley Mell, of Somerset County, was allegedly introduced to the 15-year-old girl by her mother — who wanted the teen to take flying lessons, the Bridgewater Courier News reports, citing the complaint.
Mell, a 53-year-old father of three, began chatting with the girl in 2017 — exchanging text messages and SnapChat photos — before eventually arranging to meet up at his $3.8 million mansion in Bedminster, the complaint says.
Mell allegedly “performed oral sex acts” on the girl on June 20 and then again several weeks later after sending her a message that said, “Miss you so much.”
The two of them would often discuss having sex and using birth control, with Mell allegedly purchasing an emergency contraceptive pill on July 6, the complaint says.
“If you are nervous it will hurt more,” Mell allegedly told the girl in a text. “When you are turned on is when it will feel ok.”
The two of them would meet up weeks later — on July 20 — for their private flight out of Somerset Airport, the complaint says. They allegedly flew to Barnstable, Mass., on Cape Cod “for the purpose of engaging in illicit conduct, specifically, a sexual act.”
It was on the flight back that Mell — an active community member who did volunteer work for a number of charities, including the New Jersey Conservation Foundation — allegedly put the aircraft on autopilot.
He and the teen communicated throughout the summer of 2017 and up until that November, when the last correspondence was documented, the complaint says.
“Send me a nice naked pic cute thing,” Mell begged. His wife would eventually divorce him after the relationship was revealed, the Courier News reports.
Mell — who pleaded guilty last year to engaging in interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, as well as child pornography — is scheduled to appear in federal court Tuesday for sentencing.
In addition to federal prison, the millionaire philanthropist is facing a multi-year sentence in the state pen for endangering the welfare of a child by engaging in sexual relations with a female victim under the age of 16.
Mell will be sentenced for those crimes in July.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Bus driver arrested for watching porn in front of kids
A New Jersey school bus driver has been arrested for allegedly watching pornography in front of elementary school-age children.
Franck Lafortune, 64, of Burlington Township, NJ, was charged with obscenity to minors under the age of 18 for the alleged incident, New Jersey State Police said Wednesday.
According to police, staff members from the Indian Mills Elementary School in Shamong were notified on Monday that two children at the school told their parents that they saw Lafortune watching the X-rated video on his cellphone before they got off the bus around 8:30 a.m.
The bus reportedly was parked at the time, cops said.
The parents of the children later reported the alleged incident to state troopers, prompting authorities to investigate.
Lafortune was charged and released pending a court appearance
via: https://nypost.com/2019/02/06/bus-driver-arrested-for-watching-porn-in-front-of-kids/
Video shows man faking fall to get insurance money
And the award for worst actor in an insurance scam goes to …
A New Jersey subcontractor has been busted for staging a laughably bad fake fall — all caught on videotape — to score insurance money, authorities said Friday.
Alexander Goldinsky, 57, of Randolph is seen on the surveillance-camera footage first tossing ice on the floor in the break room at an unnamed Woodbridge firm last fall — then plopping down in a fake tumble, according to prosecutors.
In the footage, Goldinski, an independent contractor for the firm All Gold Industries, stands over the ice and looks around for a few moments before half-sitting, half toppling onto the floor.
He later filed a false insurance claim for an ambulance service and treatment for “injuries” at a nearby hospital, the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office said.
But the bad actor was busted for the scam after authorities launched an investigation into his insurance claim, officials said.
“The investigation revealed that Goldinsky purposely threw the ice on the floor in the cafeteria at his workplace, placed himself on the ground and waited until he was discovered,” prosecutor’s office said in a press release.
On Jan. 15, he was charged with insurance fraud and theft for the allegedly phony fall, which occurred between Sept. 1 and Nov. 1.
“Fraudulent claims cost everyone, and we will aggressively prosecute those who illegally manipulate the system,” prosecutor Andrew Carey said in a statement.
Goldinsky did not return a phone message from The Post seeking comment Friday.
But he claimed earlier to CBS that he was innocent.
“I didn’t do it, it was a mistake,” he said. He is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 7.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/02/01/video-shows-man-faking-fall-to-get-insurance-money-prosecutors/
11th child dies in viral outbreak at New Jersey rehab center
An eleventh child has died after a deadly outbreak of adenovirus at a pediatric rehabilitation center in New Jersey, health officials said.
The state health department was first notified of the viral outbreak at Waneque Rehab Center last month, which has since infected a total of 34 children at the facility.
Earlier this month, state officials said an outbreak would not formally be declared until the facility can go four weeks without a new case of someone being infected. The most recent virus case was confirmed Friday.
“This is an extremely severe strain of adenovirus that couldn’t have occurred in a worse place given the medically fragile patients that live at the Wanaque facility,” said Dr. Shereef Elnahal, commissioner of the NJ Department of Health.
Symptoms of adenovirus usually include sore throats, pneumonia, diarrhea and pink eye.
In the wake of the outbreak, health officials have halted new admissions to the facility until further notice.
Article via ABC7
Man drowns playing ‘who can stay underwater the longest’
A New Jersey man drowned at a bachelor party while playing a game of “Who can stay underwater the longest,” authorities said Tuesday.
Robert Zachary “Zack” Bunsa, 23, of Basking Ridge was at a home on Lake Sinclair in Georgia on Saturday with about a dozen other guests, including his brother, when the group started the contest.
“He was attempting to see how long he could hold his breath, and tragically, he drowned,” Baldwin County Sheriff’s Capt. Brad King told The Post. “I don’t know if it was the type of thing that was ongoing all afternoon or if it was a spur-of-the-moment type” game.
The group of 15 men didn’t realize Bunsa hadn’t gotten out of the water at first. Thinking he was already back at the house, they went up to find him, authorities said.
“He was missing for some time — over 7 minutes, at least — before they realized,” Cpl. Lynn Stanford told the Macon Telegraph.
Finally, one of the men back at the lake dove in to look for Bunsa and pulled him out of an area between 5 and 10 feet deep near the dock. Visibility in the lake is about 1 foot, Stanford said.
A law enforcement officer living nearby heard a call on the radio and responded to the dock, performing CPR for 10 to 15 minutes before EMS arrived.
A helicopter was called to airlift Bunsa for treatment — but he was already pronounced dead at the scene.
Bunsa was a graduate of Koinonia Academy in Plainfield, NJ, where he played on the high school’s basketball team. He worked at Urban Table Restaurant in Basking Ridge, a former employer of his, Lauren Rubio, told NJ.com.
Man could lose limbs after contracting flesh-eating bacteria in New Jersey waters
MILLVILLE, N.J. – It’s a summertime tradition — fishing for crabs in rivers and bays. But a New Jersey man from Cumberland County who has done it many times before is now fighting for his life after contracting a flesh-eating bacteria while crabbing, CBS Philly reports.
“The choice is life or limbs and I’ve heard that multiple times,” said Dilena Perez-Dilan, after her 60-year-old father, Angel Perez, contracted the disease while crabbing last week off the Maurice River in Commercial Township. “The sores started showing up on his legs and he started hallucinating.”
Perez-Dilan says on July 2 her father was crabbing at his favorite spot near Matt’s Landing on the river. Complaining of pain, he went to an urgent care center the next day and got antibiotics, but the swelling only got worse as the bacteria spread to his bloodstream.
“They told us that his kidneys shut down and that he would need dialysis immediately,” she said.
Angel Perez contracted flesh-eating bacteria while crabbing in New Jersey waters.
Perez had to have a leg surgically drained as an infectious disease doctor investigated the cause of the infection. It turned out to be Vibrio vulnificus, a bacteria common to warm brackish water that is usually only a concern if you eat contaminated raw shellfish.
N.J. braces for dangerous rip currents as Tropical Storm Chris is set to strengthen into a hurricane
Tropical Storm Chris is expected to become Hurricane Chris later Tuesday as it continues to spin far off the coast of North Carolina.
Forecasters from the National Hurricane Center said Chris — which should become the second hurricane of the relatively slow 2018 Atlantic hurricane season — made very little movement during the past 24 hours but is expected to track north and east Tuesday into early Wednesday.
Once the storm begins to travel farther north, it will create rough surf as far north as the Jersey Shore, forecasters said.
“Swells generated by Chris are expected to increase and affect portions of the coasts of North Carolina and the Mid-Atlantic states during the next few days,” the hurricane center said in its storm advisory Tuesday morning. “These swells could cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.”
Article via: N.J. braces for dangerous rip currents as Tropical Storm Chris is set to strengthen into a hurricane
Mom who strangled newborn, threw body in trash sentenced
A New Jersey woman was sentenced to eight years in prison after she admitted to strangling her newborn daughter to death two years ago.
Jade Fanz was sentenced on Friday, People reported. The now 21-year-old strangled her daughter when she was just “minutes old,” according to NJ.com. She then put the infant’s body in a dumpster behind her home in Franklin Township.
Fanz’s crime came to light after she visited a local hospital due to a medical complication related to giving birth, according to ABC13. The young woman was initially charged with murder, unlawfully disturbing, moving or concealing human remains and abuse or neglect of a child, NJ.com reported.
She was later charged and pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter in April.
Fanz has been in jail since the incident occurred, according to FOX5.
She must serve at least 85 percent of her sentence before she will be eligible for parole, per the terms of her plea agreement, according to People.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/06/26/mom-who-strangled-newborn-threw-body-in-trash-sentenced/
NJ teen earns college degree before graduating high school – graduates college on May 19, High school on June 13
PHILLIPSBURG, NJ – A New Jersey teen is skipping the usual academic order and earning a college degree before he’s even graduated high school.
Kwinton Adams, 17, is set to earn his associates degree from Warren Community College on Saturday. He graduates from high school on June 13.
“I like studying,” Adams said.
Adams pulls 6-hour study sessions each day to conquer both his high school assignments and college class homework. He earned six Advanced Placement credits toward his degree and took online courses in order to complete his fast track of studies.
“I just schedule and plan when I’m going to do homework,” he said.
Adams also credits his mom for the inspiration to tackle both at once. She gave him his motivation.
“You have to try twice as hard and you should not be afraid to, to like take the next step,” he said.
Adams will attend Washington and Jefferson College in Pennsylvania next fall. He plans to study biology and attend medical school. He wants to be a physician or neurosurgeon.
He offered this tip to other teens: “Don’t doubt yourself.”
via: http://pix11.com/2018/05/15/nj-teen-earns-college-degree-before-graduating-high-school/