Tag: New Jersey
Priest accused of groping teen, calling her ‘sexy’ indicted
MORRISTOWN, N.J. — A recently ordained Roman Catholic priest accused of groping a 13-year-old girl under her skirt last summer has been indicted on criminal sexual contact and child endangerment charges.
Morris County prosecutors say the Rev. Marcin Nurek touched the girl’s buttocks over her underwear and told her she was “sexy.” The indictment was recently handed up by a county grand jury.
The 37-year-old priest was put on administrative leave by the Diocese of Paterson following his Aug. 3 arrest. He is an emigrant from Poland and was ordained into the priesthood in July.
Nurek’s lawyer, William Ware, declined comment on the indictment on Monday.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/03/27/priest-accused-of-groping-teen-calling-her-sexy-indicted/
Bayonne Public Schools closed Monday following threat to shoot up schools
BAYONNE, N.J. — Bayonne Public Schools will be closed Monday, several days after a threat to shoot up the schools was posted to social media, and the day after officials said officers would be stationed at the schools, which would remain open.
The school closures were announced on social media around 7:30 a.m.
The statement from Interim Superintendent of Bayonne Public Schools Dr. Michael Wanko read, in part, “The Bayonne School District received a twitter post that has yet to be discredited by the Bayonne Police Department. Therefore, Mayor Davis contacted me at 6:40 AM today and in the interest of safety it was decided to close all schools today, Monday, March 05, 2018.”
Some 10 hours earlier, the district stated schools would remain open but police officers would be stationed at Bayonne schools on Monday.
The announcements came after someone on Friday tweeted a threat to shoot up all Bayonne Public Schools, officials said.
“Postings like this cause much anguish and concern for parents, students, and staff,” Wanko said Sunday.
Teacher who made sex tape with student gets hired again
A former Staten Island teacher who resigned in disgrace after making a sex tape with a student has found greener pastures in the Garden State, according to a report.
Nadine Sudlow, 30, who taught English at Liberation Diploma Plus HS, had sex with her “pet pupil” during a hotel tryst that was caught in footage that the youth shared with his pals, according to a probe.
She regularly treated the student to free lunches and Starbucks coffee, which he said made him feel “weird” but that he thought she was just “fooling around.”
The untenured teacher — who told the student in e-mails that she was “mad horny” – resigned in July 2014, two months after a complaint was lodged with the office of a special schools investigator.
But shortly after a 2015 report in The Post, New Jersey granted Sudlow a teaching certificate and she was hired by the Newark school district, the Asbury Park Press reported Wednesday.
She claimed a principal who knew about her history encouraged her to apply for the position, the news outlet reported.
“It happens so often because they can get away with it,” said Terri Miller, president of Stop Educator Sexual Abuse Misconduct & Exploitation, or SESAME, the paper reported.
“They have the support of the teachers union. School administrators and districts would rather stay safe and save money than save children.”
New Jersey is considering legislation that would ban confidentiality agreements that protect teachers with substantiated cases of abuse or misconduct.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/02/15/teacher-who-made-sex-tape-with-student-gets-hired-again/
Firing, discriminating against women breastfeeding at work in NJ now illegal
TRENTON, N.J. — Firing or discriminating against women who breastfeed at work is now prohibited under a state law enacted by Republican Gov. Chris Christie on Monday.
Christie signed the legislation along with dozens of other measures, including two related bills, in the waning days of his two-term administration. Democrat Phil Murphy will take over as governor on Jan. 16.
In a statement, Christie rebuked the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, a business lobbying group, for what he called its “illogical opposition” to the legislation.
“During my term, I have done all I could do to support a welcoming environment to working mothers in New Jersey workplaces. It is deeply disturbing that a major business lobbying group does not share that sentiment,” Christie said.
The business group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Employers would be in violation of the new law, which serves as an update to the state’s civil rights law, for firing or discriminating against a woman over breastfeeding. Businesses must now also provide break time and a suitable location for breastfeeding women to express milk in private.
New Jersey and 48 other states, along with Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands, already have laws allowing women to breastfeed in public and private locations, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Christie cast the new law, which passed unanimously in the Democrat-led Legislature, as an extension of a 2014 measure that expanded civil rights protections to pregnant women and required pregnancy-related accommodations.
“My hope is that this bill will close the gap left by the 2014 legislation and will provide on-going protections to breastfeeding mothers,” Christie said.
The bill’s sponsors welcomed the new law as a way to help breastfeeding women balance work and motherhood.
“No woman should ever be shamed for, or prevented from feeding her child the best food possible,” said Democratic Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle. “This allows working women to breastfeed or pump at work without fear of repercussions.”
Christie also signed into law a bill requiring human milk banks to be registered and another measure that exempts breast pumps from the sales tax.
16-Year-Old New Jersey Boy Arrested After Allegedly Killing Family With Rifle on New Year’s Eve
An unidentified 16-year-old New Jersey boy has been taken into custody after fatally shooting his mother, father, sister and a family friend just before the ball dropped on New Year’s Eve, authorities said.
Neighbors of the family in Long Branch, a beach town on the Jersey shore, said that the boy struggled with mental illness. A friend of the family told KTLA sister station WPIX in New York City that the teen has special needs.
“It it appears the 16-year-old boy used a Century Arms semi-automatic rifle to kill his victims,” a news release from the Monmouth County prosecutor stated.
The victims – the Kologi family – lived in a red brick multifamily home on Wall Street in Long Branch.
When neighbors saw police outside Sunday night, they assumed officers were there to break up a party. But then they heard the gunshots.
“One boy had just a T-shirt on and no shoes,” said a neighbor, Joan Berg, adding she saw several young men standing in her driveway. “What I thought was that they ran out of there.”
The Associated Press reported the suspect’s brother and grandfather were at the home and were not targeted or injured.
“The police are running up with rifles and standing behind their cars,” added Berg, “I’m thinking, ‘Oh my God, what is going on?'”
Police took the 16-year-old into custody without incident. The suspect has not been identified because he is a minor.
Steven Kologi, 44, and his wife Linda Kologi, 42, as well as their daughter, Brittany Kologi, 18, were all killed. Mary Schultz, 70, a family friend, was also killed.
Friends of Brittany Kologi showed up to the scene on Monday night to leave flowers in her memory. They said they worked with her at a local ice cream store and they went to Long Branch High School together. They knew little about her brother, the alleged shooter.
“I only knew he was special needs,” said Victoria Villanueva, Brittany’s friend. “There was never an indication that there was ever a threat.”
Police were called by someone who was in the home at around 11:43 p.m. Investigators say police had never been called to the house before.
The rifle the teen allegedly used to kill his family was legally owned and registered to someone in the home, WPIX reported. He is facing four counts of murder and one count for the unlawful use of a weapon, according to the station
“Boy was schizophrenic,” said another neighbor. “Yes, sick. In hospital, in house, in hospital, house.”
The teen will make his first court appearance Tuesday morning in a hearing that will be closed to the media and to the public because he is a minor.
A friend set up a GoFundMe page for the family’s funeral expenses, the AP reported. It had raised more than $13,000 in six hours Monday.
“Linda, Steven, and Brittany were all beautiful people with the kindest hearts you could imagine,” the page stated.
New Jersey boy collects hundreds of toys for children in Puerto Rico
WOODLAND PARK, N.J. – Jayden Perez, 8, hysterically cried when he opened a gift from his parents. Inside an envelope hidden in the couch was a pair of VIP tickets to a New York Giants game. Perez is a diehard fan.
“I started crying,” he explained. “Because I never went to a Giants game.”
His mom got the tickets as a gift from her boss.
This grateful third-grader is now paying it forward. He and his mother, Ana Rosado, have organized a toy drive to benefit children devastated by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
“I’m teaching him, you know from a younger age, that he should lend a helping hand,” said Rosado.
There are now almost 900 toys piled high in boxes in their basement. Rosado said two women who are friends of the family will hand-deliver all the gifts to children in areas hardest hit by the storm. They plan to fly down in time for Three Kings Day, which is apart of the celebration of Christmas but it is observed on Jan. 6.
“To help the people who need to make a kid, a happy boy, happy girl, happy children,” said Hector Pena, a total stranger who stopped by tonight to donate several bags of gifts.
The family will be accepting donations from now until Dec. 15. For more information on how to donate you can call 201-913-6543 or contribute money for more toys here.
via: http://pix11.com/2017/12/04/new-jersey-boy-collects-hundreds-of-toys-for-children-in-puerto-rico/
Babysitter tells NJ mom he’s taking her 6-year-old daughter to movie, sexually assaults girl instead
ELIZABETH, N.J. — The former baby sitter of a 6-year-old girl has admitted he sexually assaulted her at a motel after telling the child’s mother he was taking her to a movie.
Union County prosecutors said Tuesday Jonathan Tavara-Nima pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault. The 31-year-old Elizabeth man faces a minimum of 25 years in prison when he’s sentenced Jan. 26.
Authorities say the victim’s family had hired Tavara-Nima through a website. But he continued to show up at the girl’s home after his employment ended, sometimes uninvited.
Authorities say Tavara-Nima told the girl’s mother in May that he was taking her to a movie. But he instead bought her a new dress and stockings and took her to a motel, where the assault occurred.
New Jersey Teacher Tells Class to ‘Speak American,’ Says Troops Aren’t Fighting for ‘Right to Speak Spanish’
A 25-second video clip recorded inside a classroom at New Jersey’s Cliffside Park High School has struck up a controversy on social media, according to KTLA sister station WPIX in New York.
“…men and women are fighting. They are not fighting for your right to speak Spanish. They are fighting for your right to speak American,” a teacher can be heard saying to her class.
Students in Cliffside Park, a diverse community with a large number of Spanish-speaking students, immediately reacted to the comment. At least one even walked out.
“You’re being racist,” that student can be heard saying on the video. “I know how to speak English.”
On Facebook, some former alumni are calling for the board of education to investigate the “discriminatory” behavior and the “belittling” of a bilingual student.
Meanwhile, others are defending the teacher, who has been identified on social media, as a “great person” and a “wonderful teacher.”
Some commenters said that English should be spoken in a class that is taught in English out of respect for the teacher.
Outside the high school on Friday, a student who was in the classroom said the teacher asked students whispering in Spanish to stop several times before making that comment.
“This school is not a negative school,” said Carmen Benitez, a senior at Cliffside Park. “You know there are a lot of different cultures in our school. There’s a lot of teachers who respect us.”
But others called for the teacher’s resignation.
“It’s really disrespectful,” said Alana Lopez, a freshman. “That’s not right. You don’t do that.”
WPIX has reached out to the Cliffside Park superintendent for comment, but calls weren’t immediately returned.
Students said the principal called an assembly Friday to discuss the incident. Some brought flags to school with them to represent their culture. Other students are planning a walk-out for Monday morning.
“You go to school to learn, you don’t go to feel attacked by someone you believe is an educator,” said Marvin Moreno, an alum.
His younger sister still attends the school.
Students said those who walked out of the teacher’s classroom in response to her comment were not reprimanded. The teacher in the video was substituting for a junior- and senior-level math class, but students say she teaches English at the high school.
New Jersey High School Senior Gets Accepted to All 8 Ivy League Schools, Plus Stanford
A New Jersey teenager has to make a decision soon most high school seniors can only dream of — deciding on which Ivy League school to attend in the fall. The problem, if you want to call it that, is that she was accepted into all eight of them.
Ifeoma White-Thorpe said she was shaking when she got the eighth acceptance letter.
“I was like, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, like this might be eight out of eight and I clicked it and it said ‘Congratulations’ and I was like oh my goodness!” White-Thorpe told CNN affiliate WABC-TV.
White-Thorpe, a senior and student government president at Morris Hills High School in Rockaway, has to choose between Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, Dartmouth and Brown.
She wants to study biology and pursue a career in global health. Since all of the Ivy League schools “have great research facilities,” she decided to apply to them all.
Students getting into all of the Ivies is a monumental feat, but it’s happened to a handful of teens over the past couple of years — Kwasi Enin in 2014, Harold Ekeh in 2015 and Augusta Uwamanzu-Nna and Kelly Hyles last year.
So where will she go?
Her parents said the choice is totally up to her; White-Thorpe said she just doesn’t know yet.
She can add another elite school to the mix as well — she also got into Stanford University.
276 dogs discovered in N.J. home
HOWELL, N.J. – More than 200 dogs — including at least one giving birth — were rescued from deplorable conditions inside a bi-level home in what authorities are calling “an extreme hoarding situation,” authorities said.
“Most of these dogs have never seen the outside of their house before,” said Ross Licitra, chief law enforcement officer for the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. In all, 276 dogs were found inside the 1880-square-foot home, officials said. Many were located on book shelves and makeshift platforms; some were even inside the walls.
“This is actually the worst hoarding case that we’ve ever experienced ever here in the history of Monmouth County,” he said.
He said most of the animals were in “fair” condition and authorities didn’t find any dead dogs. However, some of the animals were taken to get emergency veterinary care; few of the dogs received oxygen at the scene.
Licitra stressed the residents of the home, , were cooperating with authorities. The couple told authorities that they started three years ago with eight dogs. The dogs reproduced from there.
“They’re just not stopping it,” he said. “I think it’s just completely uncontrolled.”
As authorities were packing up and leaving, a weary-looking Joseph and Charlene Hendricks emerged from the house and walked down the driveway. When approached by an Asbury Park Press reporter, Joseph Hendricks asked, “Could you trim it down and not give us so much attention? We’re not bad people.”
When asked to explain how this happened, Hendricks replied, “It’s more than you think.”
With that, the couple returned to the house.
Earlier in the day, acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Chris Gramiccioni responded to the scene, and said criminal charges would hinge on the condition of the dogs. Dead or extremely malnourished dogs could warrant indictable offenses. The situation may only warrant a municipal court disorderly persons charge or possibly no charges at all.
“It really depends on the facts and circumstances,” he said.
Officials from the SPCA, Associated Humane Society of Tinton Falls, St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center, township police, and the county sheriff’s office, health department and hazmat team responded to the house on Bennett Road, Licitra said. Authorities set up a triage area to care for and vaccinate the dogs before they were taken to shelters. They were able to vaccinate about 80 dogs at the scene before they ran out of supplies.
Dozens of workers in hazmat suits pulled out dozens of dogs, including handfuls of puppies, of several different breeds, including pugs, chihuahuas and Yorkshire terriers.
As workers opened the front door to re-enter the house to remove more dogs, barking could be heard from inside. Some of the hazmat workers put on ventilators and air tanks, similar to what firefighters wear, before entering the house. Urine and feces were on the floor, and holes were torn through walls. A foul odor permeated the air.
Sheriff Shaun Golden said firefighters were using thermal imaging equipment to search for animals in cracks or crevices in the home.
“It’s a huge undertaking,” Licitra said of the effort to remove the animals. “Everybody is trying to get this under control.”
Conditions in the house are “deplorable,” Licitra said.
“Think about a house with 100 dogs living in it,” he said, shortly after the dog removal began.
The situation was discovered about 6 p.m. Thursday after an animal control officer was called to the location to chase down a dog that got loose, the chief said. The officer, with the Associated Humane Society, suspected more was going on, eventually made contact with the owners of the house and then contacted the SPCA, Licitra said.
“They called us, and this is what we’ve discovered,” he said.
Some rescuers suffered minor injuries: cuts, bruises, respiratory issues, and heat exhaustion. They were treated at the scene.
Authorities started removing dogs about 9:30 Friday morning.
Across the street, Suzanne DeGrande, 60, watched from her front steps.
“Nobody expected something like this,” she said. “Nobody expected this type of thing. I’m like in shock. I haven’t been able to get out of my driveway all day.”
She said she could hear barking, and her husband once went to the home to complain about the smell, but they never expected there to be so many dogs.
“Apparently they both had a problem,” she said. “I don’t know how they lived in a house like that.”
“I just hope that they both get the help they need,” she added.
Those interested in adopting dogs or donating to the Monmouth County SPCA can visit the organization’s website, or call 732-542-0040.
Other cases of animal hoarding in the New Jersey Shore area include:
– Forty dogs found caked in their own waste and living in squalor in a home on Spruce Street in Lakewood last year. The resident of the home, identified as Laura Giacini, was fined $1,900 and banned from owning animals, SPCA officials said.
– More than 300 dead birds found in 2014 stacked from floor to ceiling in the Little Silver home of Gretchen Rell, a former volunteer for the Monmouth County SPCA. Rell, 57 at the time, pleaded guilty to animal neglect and was placed on probation for five years.
– Sixty-eight assorted animals left to die in what SPCA officials described as “a maggot-infested tomb,” when former Toms River police dispatcher Matthew Teymant and his wife, Amanda, fell behind on the mortgage on their Barnegat home and moved out in 2008. Matthew Teymant, then 30, pleaded guilty to animal cruelty in 2009, was placed on probation for five years and ordered to perform 250 hours of community service.
On Wednesday, law-enforcement officers with the Monmouth County SPCA and federal agents rescued 17 pit bulls from a home in Asbury Park in what authorities said was an interstate, dog-fighting ring. The animals were seized from Mario Atkinson, 40, of New Street, Asbury Park, who was charged under a federal statute that makes it a felony to fight dogs or to possess them for dog-fighting. Authorities seized a total of 66 dogs, 44 of them from locations in New Jersey, in multi-state raids in the dog-fighting investigation on Wednesday.