New Jersey Archives – Hard Boiled News

Florist Busted Stealing Flowers From Cemetery

April 29, 2017 By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

PEQUANNOCK, New Jersey — A sticky-fingered florist has been arrested for repeatedly stealing graveside flowers and plants from a cemetery in New Jersey, cops said.

Lynda Wingate, 59, of Riverdale has been charged with theft of moveable property.

Pequannock Township police say that after receiving numerous complaints about stolen lowers at the First Reformed Church Cemetery in Pompton Plains, they decided to replace some pilfered plants and place surveillance cameras nearby to see what would happen.

Sure enough, cops say that within two days the plants were gone and a review of the surveillance footage revealed a woman driving up in a silver minivan and taking off with the plants.

Unfortunately for Wingate, officers recognized her as a former police dispatcher who now owned a flower shop in town.

Police say Wingate claimed she was just removing old flowers from graves of people she knew, but investigators didn’t buy her story. At the same time, they said there was no evidence that she attempted to re-sell any of the plants she allegedly stole.

American Idol Dope Forgets to Leave Weed at Home for Court Appearance

April 7, 2017 By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

Khaleef Chiles appeared on the first season of American Idol in 2003

SOMERSET, New Jersey — Come for the bail jumping, stay for the weed.

A New Jersey man who had been a contestant on the first season of “American Idol” found himself in hot water this week when he came to court to surrender on charges of jumping bail and court officers found a bag of weed in his pocket.

Khaleef Chiles, 34, of Plainfield, arrived at Somerset County court on Thursday to face charges for failing to appear for an earlier court date. When he was searched before being placed in a holding cell, officers found the drugs, NJ.com reported.

Chiles was charged with third-degree drug possession in addition to the bail jumping charge and Judge Robert Reed ordered him to return to court on Friday to enter his pleas.

“When you come back tomorrow, make sure your pockets contain no weed,” the judge said. “I’m just saying.”

Chiles appeared on American Idol back in 2003, landing a spot on the show with a rendition of Stevie Wonder’s “My Cherie Amour,” but was voted off early in the season. He later co-authored a song for R&B singer Christina Milian, called “Whatever U Want.”

On Friday, prosecutors agreed to drop the drug charge in return for a guilty plea in the bail jumping case for which Chiles will be sentenced to probation and court-ordered drug counseling.

Chiles has a history of poor attendance in court.

He was initially arrested in March 2016 on charges of LSD and marijuana possession. On June 24, he failed to appear in court and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He turned himself in to authorities in December but failed to show up in court again on April 3

New Jersey Sicko Sets Record for Largest Child Porn Stash

October 14, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff 1 Comment

This creep had the biggest child porn stash NJ prosecutors ever saw

TRENTON, New Jersey — Prosecutors say 36-year-old Charles Diggs, of Roselle, N.J. had 325,000 files depicting child pornography including 14,000 videos showing the rape of very young children.

“Diggs allegedly had the most child pornography ever found in a state investigation – more than four times the prior record,” said Attorney General Christopher Porrino. “It’s heartbreaking to think of the many thousands of children who were raped and robbed of their innocence to create the images and videos he allegedly possessed.”

Authorities became aware of Diggs after getting a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about a Twitter account that was allegedly uploading child pornography onto the web. An investigation led police to Diggs who was arrested Sept. 3.

A search of his computers revealed the scope of his sickening collection.

A grand jury indicted Diggs on Friday on charges of with second-degree distribution of child pornography and third-degree possession of more than 100 files of child pornography. Diggs faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

MS-13 Gang Members Charged With Plotting to Kill Informant in New Jersey

October 13, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

Members of the gang MS-13

UNION CITY, New Jersey — Two high-ranking members of the vicious gang MS-13 were charged with conspiring to kill a fellow gang member they believed was an informant.

Federal investigators say Juan Pablo “Humilde” Escalante-Melgar, 27, and Elmer “Locote” Cruz-Diaz, 28, both of Union City, NJ, had received approval from their superiors in El Salvador to carry out the hit against the man they believed was cooperating with law enforcement.

“MS-13’s rules strictly prohibit cooperating with law enforcement, and it is well understood within the gang that police informants will be punished by death,” the U.S. Attorney’s office in Newark said in a statement.

Escalante-Melgar is the leader of the Pinos Locos Salvatrucha clique of the gang and Cruz-Diaz heads the Hudson Locotes Salvatrucha clique, prosecutors said.

Investigators zeroed in on the plot in early August when they heard the two men discussing with other MS-13 members on the phone the need to kill the intended victim as well as three other people. Within days, the gang had received approval from leaders in El Salvador to carry out the hits.

The two men assigned a gang member to tail the victim and take note of his movements to determine the best time and place to kill him.

But on Sept. 3, Esclante-Melgar and Cruz-Diaz were taken into custody on immigration charges. They were later hit with federal charges of conspiring to kill a person to prevent them from talking to police and have been held without bail.