Jersey City Police Officer Charged with Cigarette Cargo Theft and Scheme to Rob Drug Courier

A Jersey City, New Jersey police officer appeared in Newark federal court this afternoon to face charges that he stole more than 600,000 cigarettes from a trailer and conspired to rob $20,000 from a drug courier, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced. Mario Rodriguez, 39, of Jersey City, is charged by complaint with one count of cargo theft and one count of conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act extortion under color of official right. He appeared this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cathy L. Waldor in Newark federal court and was released on a $250,000 bond and confined to home incarceration with electronic monitoring. The complaint also charges Anthony Roman, 48, also of Jersey City, in the conspiracy. Roman was arrested at home August 2, 2013, and appeared in court the same day. He was released on a $250,000 bond. According to the complaint: The Cargo Theft On July 3, 2013, Rodriguez and an individual working for the FBI as a confidential informant (CI) drove to a warehouse in Secaucus, New Jersey to break into a trailer and steal cigarettes they planned to sell to the CI’s associate for $5,000. Law enforcement agents had parked the trailer there and established surveillance of the area. Rodriguez used bolt cutters to cut the lock off of the trailer, and he and the CI loaded 50 cases containing approximately 600,000 cigarettes and six televisions from the trailer into their vehicle. As they drove the stolen items to a parking lot in Staten Island, New York, Rodriguez made several phone calls seeking buyers for the TVs. The pair met the CI’s associate—actually an undercover officer—in the parking lot to get the $5,000 payment for the cigarettes. Rodriguez kept $3,000 of the cash and three of the TVs. The Extortion On July 10, 2013, Rodriguez and the CI met in New Jersey with undercover law enforcement agents and discussed the possibility of robbing a drug courier—actually another undercover officer. Later that month, the group met again in Staten Island to discuss the plan. The undercover officers told Rodriguez the courier would be delivering cocaine to them that day in a Jersey City mall parking lot in exchange for a $20,000 payment, after which Rodriguez would steal the money. Rodriguez called Roman to help him with the robbery. Rodriguez and Roman drove a Toyota RAV-4 truck to the location on July 24, 2013, where law enforcement agents had established surveillance and staged the car containing $20,000 cash in a plastic bag. Rodriguez and Roman robbed the woman they thought was a drug courier of the money after identifying themselves as law enforcement officers—which Roman is not—and pretending to arrest the CI. Later that day, Rodriguez, the CI and the undercover met in a hotel room at a Pennsylvania casino to split the cash. The cargo theft and conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act Extortion charges carry a maximum potential penalty of 10 and 20 years in prison, respectively. Both counts also carry a maximum fine of $250,000. U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford in Newark; the Special Investigations Unit of the Jersey City Police Department, under the direction of Acting Chief Joseph Connors; the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Prosecutor Gaetano T. Gregory; and criminal investigators of the U.S. Attorney’s Office with the investigation leading to the charges. He also thanked the Bayonne Police Department, Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, IRS-Criminal Investigation, U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, and the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation for their significant contributions to the investigation. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan W. Romankow of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Organized Crime/Gangs Unit in Newark. The charges and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are considered innocent unless and until proven guilty. Source: http://www.fbi.gov/newark/press-releases/2013/jersey-city-police-officer-charged-with-cigarette-cargo-theft-and-scheme-to-rob-drug-courier

New Tobacco Chief Promises U.S. Action as Industry Waits

The new health regulator in charge of tobacco said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will begin to take action soon on major decisions from the effects of menthol to the marketability of newer products. Mitch Zeller, appointed head of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products last month, said his first days on the job have been consumed by reviewing the risks of menthol, sifting through industry requests for new product clearances and weighing whether to expand the agency’s authority over e-cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products. “I know that all interested parties from industry to public health have been waiting for signs of public action,” Zeller said at a conference in Washington today. “I am keenly aware of the level of public frustration.” While Zeller didn’t give specifics on timing, the industry has expected his appointment would hasten agency decisions. “There is going to be a probably more significant or at least a speeding up of some of the activity at the FDA,” Daniel Delen, chief executive officer of Reynolds American Inc. (RAI), the second-largest U.S. seller of tobacco, told analysts yesterday on a conference call. The FDA was given authority over tobacco products through the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. The industry, led by companies such as Richmond, Virginia- based Altria Group Inc. (MO) and Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based Reynolds, are awaiting FDA determinations on almost 3,700 requests that products be considered substantially equivalent to older products so they can continue to be sold, Alfred Kevin Altman, a consultant for the Council of Independent Tobacco Manufacturers of America, said at the meeting sponsored by the Food and Drug Law Institute. Marketing Rules New tobacco products marketed after Feb. 15, 2007, must be cleared for sale by the FDA. A tobacco product marketed before March 22, 2011, can continue to be sold if the FDA issues an order that it is substantially equivalent to an older product or one that has been declared substantially equivalent. Zeller blamed some of the delay on incomplete industry submissions while the tobacco industry said the FDA keeps changing what it wants from them. James Swauger, vice president of regulatory oversight at Reynolds American’s R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., said he has reworked substantial equivalency submissions three or four times for the FDA. Menthol Risk The FDA also is weighing whether menthol cigarettes are more dangerous than unflavored versions, a determination that could lead to a ban. A panel of outside advisers to the agency determined in a March 2011 report that removing menthol cigarettes from sale in the U.S. would benefit public health. The panel report on the health impact of menthol cigarettes was required by 2009 legislation that gave the agency authority over the tobacco industry. “I’m encouraged by him saying that things will start moving again,” Murray Kessler, the CEO of Lorillard Inc. (LO), which makes the top-selling menthol cigarette Newport, told analysts today on a conference call. Kessler said he plans to meet with Zeller in the next couple of weeks since officials at the Greensboro, North Carolina-based company haven’t met with FDA officials in the last few months. Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris USA and largest seller of tobacco in the U.S., sells menthol cigarettes under the Marlboro, Virginia Slims and Parliament brands, among others. Reynolds American sells the mint-flavored product under its Camel, Salem and Kool brands. Altria also recently began making Marlboro NXT, a cigarette that allows smokers to switch to menthol flavor by crushing a capsule in the filter. Zeller also said he sees an opportunity to create a “comprehensive nicotine policy” at the agency. “I see this as one of the big issues in public health,” he said. He wouldn’t be more specific. The FDA also regulates nicotine replacement therapies, such as GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK)’s Nicorette gum, through its drug center, which weighs the safety and effectiveness of products.

Lawyers spar in court

It was controversial at the last day to testify for the woman who says she gave it, the prison guard pouches packed with drugs to bring the prisoners in a correctional center of Regina. Laura Reynolds, the sixth day of testimony in a jury trial Brent Taylor, Miles, 50, was littered with legal protest and the decision of Justice Eugene Scheibel on what was and was not appropriate or misleading. When the judge asked Reynolds can be dismissed when issues ended Friday, attorney James Korpan said: "I think it was enough." During cross-examination earlier this week, Reynolds testified that she never discussed with Taylor, the content-filled pouches of drugs he had taken from his home for prisoners Sanford Brass, and Kevin Lee Stonechild. She said she assumed that he knew that the bags are held. In redirecting the Crown prosecutor Doug Curliss, Reynolds told the court about a conversation with Taylor in which he claimed that he was once stopped by police for traffic after checking the house, the officers reportedly called a "drug house." "He (Taylor) said that he did not know whether drugs in packages," Reynolds has shown, adding that he came into the house to pick up the package is about 10 times or more after that. She said she heard about the traffic stop on both Taylor and brass, and the conversation with the accused has been about 2008 or 2009. "It was so long ago now," she added. "He still came and took the bag ... and he does everything right, and while August or September of '09," she said. Allowed a limited re-examination, Korpan said that when Reynolds revealed earlier this week, and asked what she knew to stop the movement came from the brass, she replied: "Yes." She then said that she and Taylor are not talking about drugs in the package - "He never came up." "It was so long ago," Reynolds told the court on Friday. "I know, I had a conversation with him. When they were, I can not tell you," she said, concluding her testimony. Taylor on the court 15 charges arising from investigations into the alleged smuggling of drugs into the prison Regina, where he worked as a guard in 1987. Most of the crimes allegedly occurred between January 1, 2007 and February 27, 2010. Two charges in an attempt to obstruct justice and violation of conditions of release by contacting the witness for the prosecution Reynolds allegedly took place January 5, 2011. Seven women and five men of the jury heard eight days of evidence. "You've worked hard," Scheibel said in a dismissal of the jury a long weekend. On Tuesday, Curliss is expected to call its final witness, a woman who claims she was the first to give a drug-filled bags Taylor tobacco. A court order prohibits identification of women. In the video, played this week, Taylor, when questioned RCMP, which has repeatedly denied drugs in jail, saying that he delivered tobacco brass and Taylor on several occasions. He also denied receiving money for it. The Court considered the tobacco smuggling is also considered a smoking prison.