Fugitive worked for Homeland Security

NEWARK, New Jersey – Prosecutors don’t understand how a fugitive wanted in New Jersey worked for the Department of Homeland Security in Georgia despite a nationwide alert for her arrest.

Tahaya Buchanan was sought on a 2007 indictment on charges of staging the theft of her Range Rover.

Paul Loriquet of the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office says the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Atlanta was unaware of the 39-year-old’s status even after Buchanan was arrested in July during a traffic stop in which police noticed the warrant.

Immigration spokeswoman Ana Santiago tells The Star-Ledger of Newark she did not have information whether the office regularly checks its employee list against national criminal warrants.

A Citizenship and Immigration Services spokeswoman in Washington said Wednesday she couldn’t immediately comment.

Buchanan pleaded guilty to one charge of insurance fraud on Monday and faces three months probation.

Feds: Former US Prosecutor Helped Rub Out Witnesses For Gangster Clients, Ran Drugs And Call-Girls

From federal prosecutor to accused violent gangster, pimp, and drug-dealer…That’s the unusual career trajectory taken, say the Feds, by Paul Bergrin, who was indicted earlier this month in a 39-count racketeering indictment.

In a drama that could have been made for HBO, Bergrin — a white-collar defense lawyer who once represented, pro bono, a solider accused of abusing Abu Ghraib detainees — seems to have allowed his gangster clients to drag him into a world of violent crime. And he may have gone a lot further than Maury Levy ever did for Stringer Bell.

Bergrin, a former AUSA with the U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey, is charged with leading a criminal enterprise that used violence, intimidation, and deceit to generate millions of dollars, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. Among the most eye-catching allegations against him:
– That he used a Newark restaurant as a front for a cocaine-distribution network.
– That he oversaw a $1,000-an-hour call-girl ring in New York City.
– That he had a witness killed in one drug case, and hired a hitman to kill another.

You can read a key portion of the indictment here.

Cameraman files suit against Newark officer for assault

A television news cameraman in New Jersey has filed a 17-count lawsuit against a Newark Police Department officer and the city of Newark, alleging that he was assaulted while covering demonstration against street violence, The Star-Ledger reported.

Longtime cameraman James Quodomine was on assignment for Newark’s WCBS-TV when he was sent to cover a gathering of city residents who had lost family members to violence. His lawsuit alleges that Officer Brian Sharif confiscated his camera, put him in a headlock, handcuffed him and arrested him for disorderly conduct after he refused stop videotaping the demonstration in front of a church. Video of the incident confirms Quodomine’s account. Sharif was suspended after the video was aired.

Quodomine was later issued a summons for disorderly conduct, which he says the city agreed to drop if he agreed not to file a lawsuit. Quodomine refused, but the charges against him were later dropped.

Quodomine’s October 22 suit charges the city and Sharif with unreasonable seizure, excessive force, false arrest, and malicious prosecution, among other charges. He is seeking unspecified compensation.