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April 24, 2013

Hoboken Police Advise Residents to be Alert for Phone Scam

Filed under: City Of Hoboken News,crime,Hoboken,Police — Tags: , , — TheBoken @ 2:25 PM

Here is a message form the Hoboken Police Department advising resident on a a phone scam hitting residents in the area….

Hoboken Police Advise Residents to be Alert for Phone Scam

HP HQDear Hoboken Resident,

The Hoboken Police Department wants residents to be aware of a nationwide phone extortion scam that has recently targeted members of the community.

A Hoboken resident was recently the target of a phone scam attempt to extort money. The resident received a text message in Spanish stating that a relative had been in an accident and asking that they call a phone number immediately. When they called the number, the caller stated that they had a close relative of the targeted victim captive and demanded money in exchange for their release.

Several similar incidents have taken in place in Hudson County. In these cases, an unknown male attempted to extort money from a female via telephone by making false claims that he had a family member captive.

Residents who believe they are the target of the scam should report the incident to the Hoboken Police Department by calling 201-420-2100.

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March 21, 2013

Former City of Hoboken IT Manager Pleads Guilty to Illegally Intercepting and Disclosing E-Mails Intended for Hoboken Mayor and Other Officials

Filed under: City Of Hoboken News,crime,Hoboken — Tags: , , , — TheBoken @ 11:40 AM

This statement was released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office March 20, 2013. With former IT Manager of Hoboken Patrick Ricciardi pleading guilty close observers are wondering if this means the case is over or where the next shoe will drop. The original complaint that lead to Patrick’s arrest listed at least unnamed 3 people who were identified in knowing of or being involved in the illicitly intercepted emails. ….

Former City of Hoboken IT Manager Pleads Guilty to Illegally Intercepting and

Disclosing E-Mails Intended for Hoboken Mayor and Top City Officials

Hoboken-City-Hall-HDR-Mod-_thumb.jpg

NEWARK—A former management information systems specialist for the city of Hoboken pleaded guilty today for intercepting communications meant for the mayor of Hoboken and top city officials and for passing some of those communications on to other officials, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Patrick Ricciardi, 46, of Hoboken, entered a guilty plea—before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas in Newark federal court—to an information charging him with accessing a computer without authorization, interception of wire and electronic communications, and disclosure of intercepted wire and electronic communications.

According to the documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Ricciardi was a longstanding employee of the city of Hoboken and worked as the chief information technology officer for the mayor’s office. As part of his job duties, Ricciardi was responsible for keeping the city’s network running and had access to e-mail accounts within the city’s computer system and other aspects of the city’s computer network.

In April 2011, Ricciardi created an archive file on his work computer to intercept and store all e-mails sent to and from the mayor and certain of the mayor’s employees. Neither the mayor nor any other city employee authorized the storage of the e-mails or the creation of the file.

During his guilty plea proceeding, Ricciardi admitted he used his access to set up the e-mail accounts of the mayor and two of the mayor’s top lieutenants so all of their incoming and sent e-mails would be sent to the archive folder.

He also admitted that he read some of the e-mails in order to spy on the mayor and her assistants and forwarded them to other current and former city officials.

Ricciardi is scheduled to be sentenced on July 1, 2013, before Judge Salas. Each of the three counts carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

U.S. Attorney Fishman praised special agents of the FBI’s Cyber Crimes Task Force, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge David Velazquez, for the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Zach Intrater of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Section in the Office’s Economic Crimes Unit in Newark.

Link to FBI Release: http://www.fbi.gov/newark/press-releases/2013/former-city-of-hoboken-it-manager-pleads-guilty-to-illegally-intercepting-and-disclosing-e-mails-intended-for-hoboken-mayor-and-top-city-officials

 

 

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June 11, 2012

Hoboken 4-Year Old Loses Faith in Humanity Following Bicycle Seat Theft

Filed under: crime,Hoboken — Tags: , , , , , — TheBoken @ 3:45 PM

This article was written by Hoboken Author Chris Halleron. He has written for the Hoboken Reporter, h-Mag and now has his own blog www.ChrisHalleron.com and wanted to share this with TheBoken.com’s readers. His most recent post has to do with how the recent theft of a bike seat in Hoboken has affected his 4 year old son’s faith in humanity. Hoboken may be a relatively safe place to live but we still have crime and this is Chris’ take on the incident.

Hoboken 4-Year Old Loses Faith in Humanity Following Bicycle Seat Theft

Four-year old Jack Halleron has seen the thin veneer of his childhood innocence stripped away by the recent theft of a seat from his parents’ bicycle.

At 08:27 a.m. on Friday, June 01, 2012, as his mother attempted to make use of the bicycle in a responsible, ecologically friend effort to transport the child to school, young Master Halleron was the first to notice the seat was missing. At that exact moment, his faith in humanity was completely and utterly lost—with little to no hope of its restoration.

“Who would do that, Mommy?” inquired a befuddled Halleron.

“A stranger,” she replied, with her own measure of jaded disgust.

“Oh man—that’s terrible. I don’t like that stranger,” said Halleron, as he decided then and there that all strangers were in fact inherently evil and not to be trusted.

As the day wore on, Halleron’s consuming disbelief showed no signs of relenting. He told his entire class, all his teachers and a clerk at a local bodega of his devastating loss. “It’s just bad,” he said, still reeling in a disaffected daze. “It’s some bad business, that stranger who took my bike seat.”

Possible suspect “Swiper the Fox”

Prior to the bicycle seat, Halleron’s only previous exposure to the seedy underworld of thievery had come in the fairly benign form of “Swiper the Fox,” from the children’s television program “Dora the Explorer.” His only prior revelation that there may in fact be evil in the universe had been a tacit acknowledgment of the “Dark Side” of “The Force,” as he watched Anakin Skywalker morph into the insidious Darth Vader from the Star Wars series of feature films. Other than that, Halleron’s world had been a sterling utopia of around-the-clock bliss, maintained via absolutely flawless parenting.

“Gooood… I can feel your anger…”

In the days following the theft, Halleron’s woe was compounded by the fact that Flo On Wheels, Hoboken’s principle bicycle shop (1222 Washington Street), did not have a replacement seat on hand. “Oh no,” he cried. “Now I have to walk? But my feet don’t work.” The psychosomatic paralysis was no doubt brought on by the comprehensive trauma of the event.

Halleron’s disappointment in mankind is not without merit. The fact remains that the bicycle had an additional child’s seat conspicuously attached to it, thereby indicating to the petit thief in no uncertain terms that his or her actions would directly affect a child’s world view. But given the spate of bicycle-related thefts in Halleron’s neighborhood as of late, the soulless being responsible for the pilfering is likely an absolutely abhorrent douchebag to begin with.

“And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy My brothers…”

“I mean, really,” said Halleron’s father, “what kind of f**ing a$$h*le steals a g*ddamn bike seat?” Adding, “I hope it gives him a scorching case of hemorrhoids.”

As for the younger Halleron, the dark shadow of mistrust remains firmly ensconced in the vengeful lad’s psyche as he longs for justice. He continues to pepper absolute strangers with a form of passive-aggressive interrogation—at the park, at the store, in restaurants or any other random public forum.

“You know what happened? Someone stole my bike seat. It was a stranger. So, what’s your name?”

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June 6, 2012

PSE&G Public Service Announcement–Beware of Nationwide Payment Scam

Filed under: crime,Hoboken,PSEG — Tags: , , , , , — TheBoken @ 8:30 AM

This note was sent out to PSE&G Customers to make them aware of a national payment scam. Since PSE&G is the main utility for Hoboken this announcement is being reprinted here…

PSE&G warns customers about nationwide payment scam

Scammers ask for personal information such as social security numbers

PSEG Logo Large

PSE&G is alerting its customers about a nationwide phony bill payment program that promises to credit or pay utility bills in exchange for personal information, including social security numbers.  The scam, which has been reported in a number of states, claims that President Barack Obama is providing credits or applying payments to utility bills.

Here’s how the scam works:

  • Someone calls a utility customer and tells them that the federal government has a program to pay utility bills on a one-time basis.
  • Customers are asked to provide their social security numbers to apply for the program.
  • The scammers then give customers a phony federal reserve bank number.  Customers are told to enter the phony bank number to pay their utility bills online or receive a credit.  While it initially appears that the customer’s bill has been paid (or credit applied), no government funds are applied to the customer’s account, and the account balance remains due.  Some PSE&G customers have reported that they entered the false information, and then called the company to verify that the payment was made by the government on their behalf. 
  • According to reports, the scammers are also emailing, texting and using social media to reach customers.

What you should know:

  • Customers should be assured that PSE&G account information is protected and that no one should be contacting customers requesting social security numbers, or usernames or passwords for customers who use online account services.  To help protect the security of PSE&G accounts, PSE&G will not contact customers to request their social security number, as well as username or password for customers who use online account services, such as PSE&G’s myAccount.
  • When PSE&G makes an outbound phone call to customers, automated or manually, the caller ID will identify the call as coming from PSE&G.  The PSE&G representative will ask appropriate security questions and provide predetermined information to confirm customer identity.  If customers do not receive these pieces of information, they likely are not speaking with a PSE&G representative.  If customers feel uncomfortable and they know they have an outstanding balance that needs to be resolved, they should hang up and call PSE&G directly at 1-800-436-7734, or visit a local PSE&G Customer Service Center. Service Centers are open Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM with locations listed on customer bills.  Addresses also are available online at: http://www.pseg.com/centers

What to do if you are contacted:

  • If you receive a phone call, email or other communication purporting to be from PSE&G requesting your social security number, username or password, please do not provide it.  Nor should you click on any links or respond in any manner.  Send an email to PSE&G’s security department at PSEG-BAandR@pseg.com with details about what occurred.
  • If you believe you are a victim of this scam, notify the proper authorities, such as local police and report the incident to the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs (DCA) at (800) 242-5846 or (973) 504-6200.  If you entered the phony bank number to pay your bill, please remove it from your online bill payment information.  Please remember that no government funds were applied to your account and your balance remains due.
  • Customers who have doubts about the legitimacy of any call from PSE&G, especially one in which payment is requested, should call PSE&G directly.
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April 3, 2012

The Case of the Million Dollars Missing in Quarters At Hoboken HPU Concludes with 7 year sentence of John Corea

Filed under: City Of Hoboken News,crime,Hoboken — Tags: , , — TheBoken @ 7:55 AM

We interrupt your entertainment and local fun news to give you this update on the “War on Courruption”  in Hoboken. This was released yesterday by the NJ Attorney General’s Office…..

Ex-Director of Hoboken Parking Utility Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison for His Role in $600,000 Theft of Parking Meter Funds
The former director, John P. Corea, pleaded guilty to official misconduct

TRENTON – Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa announced that John P. Corea, the former director of the Hoboken Parking Utility, was sentenced to state prison today for his role in the theft of $600,000 by a Toms River contractor whose company was hired by the City of Hoboken to collect coins from city parking meters. The contractor previously pleaded guilty.

Corea, 48, of Hoboken, was sentenced to seven years in state prison, including three years of parole ineligibility, by Superior Court Judge Francis R. Hodgson Jr. in Ocean County. He was ordered to pay $300,000 in restitution to the City of Hoboken and will be permanently barred from public employment in New Jersey. Corea pleaded guilty on Dec. 16, 2011 to a second-degree charge of official misconduct, which was contained in a 2009 state grand jury indictment. The indictment stemmed from an investigation by the Division of Criminal Justice and the New Jersey State Police.

“Government officials have a duty to act with complete honesty, integrity and care in dealing with public funds, but Corea corruptly betrayed that duty and the public’s trust, permitting a crooked contractor to literally make off with bags of cash belonging to the City of Hoboken,” said Attorney General Chiesa. “This lengthy prison sentence reflects a policy of zero tolerance when it comes to public officials who abuse their positions and break the law in New Jersey.”

“This was a very costly breach of public trust,” said Stephen J. Taylor, Director of the Division of Criminal Justice. “The Division of Criminal Justice will continue to work with the State Police and other agencies to expose and convict those who engage in official misconduct.”

Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey J. Manis prosecuted the case and handled the sentencing for the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau.

In pleading guilty, Corea admitted, among other things, that as director of the Hoboken Parking Utility, he steered three separate no-bid contracts to United Textile Fabricators to collect, count and manage the coins from the city’s parking meters. He admitted that he made false statements to the city council about the qualifications and experience of the company, which is a coin-operated arcade game manufacturer. He further admitted that he came to believe that United Textile and its owner, Brian A. Petaccio, 52, of Toms River, had stolen a substantial amount of the city’s parking revenues, but did not take any steps to stop the thefts or notify the city.

Petaccio pleaded guilty on Sept. 30, 2009 to an accusation charging him with second-degree theft by unlawful taking for stealing more than $1.1 million in coins from Hoboken’s parking meters between June 2005 and April 2008. He faces up to seven years in prison under his plea agreement and also must pay $300,000 in restitution to the City of Hoboken. After an audit in 2007 uncovered parking revenue shortfalls, Petaccio and his company returned approximately $575,000 to the city. However, Petaccio admitted, in pleading guilty, that he diverted an additional $600,000 that was not reported to the city. His sentencing is scheduled for April 20.

The investigation was conducted by Detective Sgt. Peter Layng of the State Police Official Corruption Bureau North Unit, Sgt. Lisa Shea of the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau, Deputy Attorney General Manis, Deputy Attorney General Perry Primavera and Administrative Analyst Kathleen Ratliff.

Attorney General Chiesa and Director Taylor noted that the Division of Criminal Justice has established a toll-free Corruption Tipline for the public to report corruption, financial crime and other illegal activities: 1-866-TIPS-4CJ. Additionally, the public can log on to the Division website at www.njdcj.org to report suspected wrongdoing. All information received through the tipline or webpage will remain confidential.

Link to Press Release: http://www.nj.gov/oag/newsreleases12/pr20120402b.html

Editor’s Note: John Corea was the Hoboken Parking Director during a previous administration and not the current one. This case shows that corruption was a both a long standing and a very recent problem in Hoboken. One of the major drivers behind moving to muni meters (besides creating more parking spaces) was that it creates a better audit trail. Below is a joke worth repeating published previously on TheBoken.com….

Just for fun TheBoken.com did a little math to figure out how much weight and space $600,000 worth of quarters takes up.

Below is the breakdown of how large the booty listed in the settlement really is:

Question: How much does $600,000 in quarters weigh?

Answer: According to the US Mint that each quarter weighs 5.670g.
http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/?action=coin…

And 1 gram = 0.00220462262 pounds
Link: http://www.asknumbers.com/GramsToPounds.aspx

So $600,000 means there are 2.4 million quarters in the take for this crime.

Now with some simple multiplication this yields:

2,400,000 X 5.670g = 13,608,000g or 13,608,000 * 0.00220462262 Pounds = 30,000.50461296 pounds or 15 tons of quarters!

Answer: 15 Tons of quarters!

Now, to some friends TheBoken.com had initially joked that that wouldn’t even fit in Sybill’s Cave but it turns out they likely can.

The diameter of a quarter is 24.26 mm or radius 12.13mm.  And its thickness 1.75mm
http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/?action=coin…

Using the formula for area of a circle as A = πr2

We get an area of A = 462.224420411198 mm2

And with a thickness of 1.75mm yields a volume of 808.8927 mm3.

So now $600,000 in quarters takes up the following space:

808.8927 mm3 * 2,400,000 = 1,941,342,480 mm3 or cubic millimeters

1 cubic millimeter = 3.53146667 × 10-8 cubic feet.

Converted to feet we have 68.55786263 cubic feet of space taken up assuming the quarters would stack flush but they can’t. So, if you had a small den you could easily fit those quarters in since a typical small den goes 8ft by 11ft and has 9 foot ceilings or 792 cubic feet.

Practical Question: But would the average building be able to support that weight in one room? That’s 15 tons!  His condo board would not have loved him had he hoarded his take in house. Maybe that is why John Corea sent the money all the way to Tom’s River as the press release stipulates. Just saying.

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March 4, 2012

Photo of the Day–The Last Hoboken St. Patrick’s Day Arrest?

Filed under: crime,Hoboken,Photo Of The Day,Police,St. Patrick's Day — Tags: , , , , , , , , — TheBoken @ 9:25 AM

Hoboken St. Patty's Day 3am arrest 3-4-2012dollywoodx3 sent this Instagram out at 3:24 am last night via Twitter of another arrest of a reveler on Washington Street which makes today’s photo of the day. 9 policeman vs. once alleged criminal actor is not very good odds as this photo can attest.There were some arrests and summonses issued but the general consensus is that the police did have the event somewhat under control. TheBoken.com even went to an informal  church dinner yesterday and there were parents there with their children who had presumably navigated the smaller crowds this year with little problems. With that said yesterday’s big party in Hoboken was not perfect but was certainly under control from a law enforcement perspective. This year’s extensive public Safety Plan in no doubt played a major role in the reduction but not complete elimination of the debauchery. This promoted Mayor Dawn Zimmer to Tweet from her @DawnZimmerNJ account:

 

“Just walked from north Hob to south & first street and everything seems under control. Thank u so much to all the public safety officials!” – Dawn Zimmer

Ravi Bhalla who is the current Hoboken City Council President also tweeted from his @RaviBhalla twitter account:

“Hoboken has been better today than in year’s past. Thanks to HPD, HFD, Hudson County law enforcement units & Happy St Pats!!”

 

It is expected that the overall crime stats from this Saturday’s event will be release early next week. Stay tuned.

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February 13, 2012

Hoboken is Still a Safe City – Mayor Zimmer and Police Chief State Total Crime is Down

Filed under: crime,Hoboken — Tags: , , , — TheBoken @ 3:30 PM

Last Friday, The Mayor of Hoboken Dawn Zimmer issued a statement on crime in the City of Hoboken that was precipitated in part by false remarks made by a unscrupulous website in Hoboken  as well as a press release from their police unions that Mayor had lied or misrepresented facts about total crime being down. The Mayor simply stated a fact in her State of The City speech given earlier this month. Total crime is not only down but the total crime rate per 1,000 people is also down. Here is the Mayor’s Statement….

Statement from Mayor Zimmer, Chief Falco, and Director Tooke

“We are committed to implementing every strategy and resource possible to protect our community.

While some categories of offenses have gone down and some categories have gone up, including reported sexual assaults which occurred dis-proportionality on the weekend of our St. Patrick’s Day parade, overall crime in Hoboken is down significantly. According to Uniform Crime Reports and Hoboken Police Department data, there were a total of 1,260 reported crimes in 2009, 1135 in 2010, and 1,062 in 2011 – a decrease of 15.7 percent in two years. The number of calls for service to the Police Department dropped from 63,009 in 2010 to 58,185 in 2011, a decrease of 7.7 percent.

While overall crime has been reduced, even one crime is one too many, and we will continue to do everything to keep our community safe. Next week we look forward to announcing a new initiative to protect our residents and visitors.”

- End of Statement

TheBoken.com’s Editorial Comment:

Total crime is indeed trending down:

Below is the 15 year history of  reported crimes in Hoboken that show a downward trend overall in the last 15 years in Hoboken from where crime was in 1996. Given the figure of 1,062 total crimes reported in 2011 that does represent an almost 16% drop in crimes reported from 2009 when the Mayor took office.  It should be noted that other local New Jersey municipalities such as Jersey City and Newark  have much higher rates while townships such as quaint Weehawken have slightly lower rates. Hoboken does have an affluent community but it also has a good amount of housing for the poor, weekend tourist related crimes such as assaults from the occasional bar fights, and large events that help spawn incidents that stem from the aftermath of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade (up until this year). With that said, the amount of overall crime is small compared to a number of other municipalities in NJ. You don’t have to take TheBoken’s word for it, you can look up the information in the links below….

Beware of invalid use of statistical data:

One of the assertions from the Mayor’s detractors was that rape was up 25% from 2010 to 20111. While the crime of rape is very serious the disingenuous nature and invalidity of that assertion is laughable. There were only 4 rapes reported in all of 2010 and 5 in 2011 (two around the time of St. Patrick’s Day Parade). Statistics are only useful in large data sets. With such small numbers there will be variation from year to year. One source, a police officer TheBoken.com has spoken to has said crime stats can be misused in a number of ways. TheBoken.com could not agree more. Crime stats can however be a good general guide when looking at crimes over a number of years to see where it is trending. The other assertion that hiring more cops means fewer crimes is not borne out by the data either.

V is for Vendetta but S is for Solutions:

TheBoken.com believes last week’s post smearing the Mayor by a rapidly declining and untruthful website operator, besides his pathological propagandizing political well documented hatred of Mayor Zimmer has everything to do with the advent of Class II Officers and the union’s dislike of using them in Hoboken. According to a source of TheBoken’s, expect an announcement from the City of Hoboken soon on how they plan to more cost effectively handle the quality of life issues that occur on the weekends in terms of police shifts and staffing.

Come to Hoboken – It’s  Safe:

While nationally, crime is trending down, it would be a mistake to think that it could ever be zero. Its simply not in human nature to have everybody behaving so perfectly. Still Hoboken continues to be a very vibrant and safe community. Police union leaders should be very careful to avoid fear mongering to just increase a negotiated position on behalf on their members. The real proof that Hoboken overall is a safe community is best exemplified by the fact that housing prices did not plummet nearly as much as other areas during the recent housing crisis. If crime were a big problem housing prices would have gone down a lot more.

The bottom line is Hoboken is a great place to live or come visit. Normally TheBoken.com tries to stay away from opinions that could be interpreted as political but felt compelled to speak up when despicable behavior tries to unjustifiably trash the good reputation of this fine Mile Square City for the sake of political gain or greed.  The opinions expressed below the Mayor’s statement are solely that of TheBoken’s editor.

Now, lets get back to the business of having fun in Hoboken. What are you doing for Valentine’s Day?

 

Hoboken Crime Stats 1996-2010

Link to search any NJ municipality yourself: http://php.app.com/njcrime/search2.php

New Jersey Uniform Crime Reports: http://www.njsp.org/info/stats.html

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February 5, 2012

McDonald’s in Hoboken–The City’s Version of Fight Club?

Filed under: crime,Fights,Hoboken,McDonald's — Tags: , , , — TheBoken @ 11:55 AM

McDonald's Hoboken -Fight Club

TheBoken.com has noticed a trend that there were at least 4 reported assaults or fights at McDonald’s in January 2012 that the local Hoboken media reported. This is what is just reported on Hoboken Patch that resulted in police activity. With headlines like “Man Allegedly Assaulted at McDonalds”, “Two Women Arrested after Fight at McDonald’s”, “Fight Breaks out At McDonald’s”, and “Large Fight at McDonald’s Leaves One Man Hurt” is McDonald’s in Hoboken actually your kind of place? I think most people would think not, at least at night. Almost all of these fights seem to be related to night time incidents and I it seems pretty likely that alcohol was a primer. Here is a screen shot of search on just the word McDonald’s on the website www.HobokenPatch.com….

McDonalds Fight Club as Seen on Hoboken Patch

Click on this link and see for yourself the search results: http://hoboken.patch.com/search?keywords=mcdonald%27s

Hoboken is a weekend destination for many out of town revelers and incidents relating to alcohol are quite common. Fights occur at other establishments in Hoboken as well or sometimes even on the street much to the consternation of some residents that would actually like to get some sleep on the weekends. This observation is to not single McDonald’s out per se and perhaps this influx of incidents is just an aberration but there could be a trend here that management should take note of here and at least evaluate the situation. 

Here is one of my favorites from Patch on an incident January 2012 between two women:

“According to police reports, two women got involved in an altercation that involved hair pulling, food-throwing and honey mustard splashing.

Around 11:45 p.m., 22-year-old Mary Farmar from Bridgewater and Joscelyne Korzelius, 27, from Hoboken were arrested for simple assault, police said. The fight began, according to police reports, when one of the women allegedly cut the line. The two women exchanged some words, police said.

Once they got their food, Farmar sat down with Korzelius, police said, and the argument continued.

Farmar then allegedly threw honey mustard at Korzelius, as Korzelius allegedly threw French fries at Farmar, police said.

Hair pulling followed and according to police, Farmar got up on a table showing off a pluck of hair, police said. In the course of the fight, Korzelius fell to the floor and got a bloody nose, according to the police report. “

Link to the hair pulling story: http://hoboken.patch.com/articles/two-women-arrested-after-fight-in-mcdonald-s

Even though fights are a serious situation some levity on the comment thread to that story ensued nonetheless:

Commenter Hobbs wrote:

“I guess they didn’t order happy meals”

Commenter p1ywood wrote:

“Do we have to wait for a Hamburgalar to strike or a small fry to be injured before we take these food fights seriously? We need to know what’s cookin’ at McDonalds and make it safer! Even the people at the registers are working for change to be made before they end up in a pickle.”

I wrote under the moniker “Reformerus Gianticus”:

“There always seems to be a fight at Mickey D’s,
it seems that the customers there are never quite pleased,
is it some kind of drug in the fries?,
that some customers want others to die?,
Or has something run afoul with the cheese?”

A simple search on YouTube on McDonalds will yield a whole bucket load of fights at the establishment in stores all across the country. This is not just a Hoboken situation. Below is an all-time McDonalds fight shot at an establishment in San Francisco:

To date, TheBoken.com is not aware of any incidents that even approach the chaos of this fight in Hoboken but if the these incidents turn out to be a pattern it could be just a matter of time before Hoboken makes the news. Let us all hope not. Perhaps they should hire a “McBouncer” in the interim just in case. I can’t imagine these fights are welcomed by those in McDonalds Corporate. it should be noted that  I stopped in McDonalds the other day in the morning for a cup of coffee and it was very peaceful. Clearly the issue is night time related and for an organization that strives to be family friendly, I would hope that this non-statistically verifiable uptick has the attention of local and regional management.

Of Course, its not all fights late night at McDonalds. Take a look at this video where Hoboken’s very own “Taxi” entertains the crowd and spreads the love and levity one late night at Hoboken’s McDonalds. The video is entitled “McTranny’s Hoboken”…

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December 20, 2011

Former Parking Utility Pleads Guilty to Official Misconduct for Role in $600,000 Theft

Filed under: City Of Hoboken News,crime,Hoboken — Tags: , , , , , — TheBoken @ 3:05 PM

Yesterday, former Hoboken Parking Utility Director John Corea pled guilty to theft. Below is the release from the NJ Attorney General’s Office….

Ex-Director of Hoboken Parking Utility Pleads Guilty to Official Misconduct for His Role in $600,000 Theft of Parking Meter Funds

Contractor from Toms River previously pleaded guilty to theft

TRENTON – Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor announced that John P. Corea, the former director of the Hoboken Parking Utility, has pleaded guilty to official misconduct for his role in the theft of $600,000 by a Toms River contractor whose company was hired by the City of Hoboken to collect coins from city parking meters.

According to Director Taylor, Corea, 47, of Hoboken, pleaded guilty on Friday afternoon (Dec. 16), to a second-degree charge of official misconduct before Superior Court Judge Francis R. Hodgson Jr. in Ocean County. The state will recommend under the plea agreement that Corea be sentenced to eight years in state prison, including three years of parole ineligibility. He must pay $300,000 in restitution to the City of Hoboken and will be permanently barred from public employment in New Jersey. The charge against Corea was contained in an indictment obtained as a result of an investigation by the Division of Criminal Justice and the New Jersey State Police.

“This defendant corruptly exploited his public office, at a high cost to the City of Hoboken,” said Attorney General Dow. “We are seeking a lengthy prison sentence for this flagrant betrayal of trust.”

“In this difficult fiscal climate, taxpayers need to have confidence that government officials will act as honest and vigilant stewards of all public revenues,” said Director Taylor. “We will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute corrupt public officials such as Corea.”

Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey J. Manis took the guilty plea for the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau. Judge Hodgson will schedule Corea to be sentenced in February 2012.

In pleading guilty, Corea admitted, among other things, that, while director of the Hoboken Parking Utility, he steered three separate no-bid contracts to United Textile Fabricators to collect, count and manage the coins from the city’s parking meters. He admitted that he made false statements to the city council about the qualifications and experience of the company, which is a coin-operated arcade game manufacturer. He further admitted that he came to believe that United Textile and its owner, Brian A. Petaccio, 51, of Toms River, had stolen a substantial amount of the city’s parking revenues, but did not take any steps to stop the thefts or notify the city.

Petaccio pleaded guilty on Sept. 30, 2009 to an accusation charging him with second-degree theft by unlawful taking for stealing more than $1.1 million in coins from Hoboken’s parking meters between June 2005 and April 2008. Petaccio faces up to seven years in prison under his plea agreement and also must pay $300,000 in restitution to the City of Hoboken. After an audit in 2007 uncovered parking revenue shortfalls, Petaccio and his company returned approximately $575,000 to the city. However, Petaccio admitted, in pleading guilty, that he diverted an additional $600,000 that was not reported to the city. Petaccio will also be scheduled for sentencing in February 2012.

The case was prosecuted by Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey J. Manis of the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau. The investigation was conducted by Detective Peter Layng of the State Police Official Corruption Bureau North Unit and Sgt. Lisa Shea of the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau, with additional assistance from Deputy Attorney General Perry Primavera and Administrative Analyst Kathleen Ratliff, also of the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau.

Attorney General Dow and Director Taylor noted that the Division of Criminal Justice has established a toll-free Corruption Tipline for the public to report corruption, financial crime and other illegal activities: 1-866-TIPS-4CJ. Additionally, the public can log on to the Division website at www.njdcj.org to report suspected wrongdoing. All information received through the tipline or webpage will remain confidential.

Here is the link to the press release: http://www.nj.gov/oag/newsreleases11/pr20111219b.html

Editor’s Note: John Corea was the Hoboken Parking Director during a previous administration and not the current one. Just for fun TheBoken.com did a little math to figure out how much weight and space $600,000 worth of quarters takes up.

Below is the breakdown of how large the booty listed in the settlement really is:

Question: How much does $600,000 in quarters weigh?

Answer: According to the US Mint that each quarter weighs 5.670g.
http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/?action=coin…

And 1 gram = 0.00220462262 pounds
Link: http://www.asknumbers.com/GramsToPounds.aspx

So $600,000 means there are 2.4 million quarters in the take for this crime.

Now with some simple multiplication this yields:

2,400,000 X 5.670g = 13,608,000g or 13,608,000 * 0.00220462262 Pounds = 30,000.50461296 pounds or 15 tons of quarters!

Answer: 15 Tons of quarters!

Now, to some friends TheBoken.com had initially joked that that wouldn’t even fit in Sybill’s Cave but it turns out they likely can.

The diameter of a quarter is 24.26 mm or radius 12.13mm.  And its thickness 1.75mm
http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/?action=coin…

Using the formula for area of a circle as A = πr2

We get an area of A = 462.224420411198 mm2

And with a thickness of 1.75mm yields a volume of 808.8927 mm3.

So now $600,000 in quarters takes up the following space:

808.8927 mm3 * 2,400,000 = 1,941,342,480 mm3 or cubic millimeters

1 cubic millimeter = 3.53146667 × 10-8 cubic feet.

Converted to feet we have 68.55786263 cubic feet of space taken up assuming the quarters would stack flush but they can’t. So, if you had a small den you could easily fit those quarters in since a typical small den goes 8ft by 11ft and has 9 foot ceilings or 792 cubic feet.

Practical Question: But would the average building be able to support that weight in one room? That’s 15 tons!  His condo board would not have loved him had he hoarded his take in house. Maybe that is why John Corea sent the money all the way to Tom’s River as the press release stipulates. Just saying.

 

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December 9, 2011

The Curious Case of the Missing Michelangela Sleigh in Hoboken

Filed under: crime,Hoboken,Washington Street — Tags: , , , , , — Rory @ 3:35 PM

Here is an unfortunate development for a Hoboken store owner as reported by TheBoken’s very own Midtown Reporter Rory Chadwick. Talk about putting the bah in humbug whether or not the sleigh is missing due to an “accident” or was actually stolen. Read on…

Michelangela Sled Stolen in Hoboken, Have You Seen It?

Just the other day, Michelangela  possibly had their wooden sled stolen in front of their store.  Seen in the photo is the missing sled that is now missing.  Apparently someone either stole it or someone thought it was on sidewalk and likely being thrown away.  If you know who has the sled please call the store.  If it was an error and someone thought it was garbage charges will not be filed by the owners.

- Rory Chadwick

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