Andrea V. Knox, who is assigned to Troop D at the Moorestown station, has been suspended, according to the New Jersey State Police

TRENTON — A State Police trooper faces criminal charges after she allegedly received images of child pornography in a sexually explicit text exchange with another trooper.

Gloucestercitynews.net graphic files

Andrea V. Knox, of Mount Holly, failed to report her fellow trooper had shared child pornography, “despite her duty as a police officer to enforce and uphold the laws,” the state Attorney General’s Office said Tuesday.

Knox, 35, was charged Tuesday with official misconduct and possession of child pornography, the agency said in a statement. Knox, who is assigned to Troop D at the Moorestown station, has been suspended, the statement said.

The other trooper, Jeffrey Reitz of Williamstown, was charged with distribution of child pornography.

Reitz, 48, previously was indicted in December 2019 on two counts of possession of child pornography. Those charges were related to a separate exchange of texts with a different woman, the statement said.

“During those exchanges, the woman proposed that Reitz sexually assault a young girl and sent him a sexually explicit photo of the girl,” the Attorney General’s Office said.

It had described the girl as the woman’s 5-year-old daughter.

A criminal complaint in that case alleges Reitz responded to the child’s photo by texting “NICE!” and making a reference to sexual arousal.

That exchange occurred in December 2014, but investigators only learned of the images when the mother’s phone was seized “much later” during a separate investigation of the Gloucester City woman.

Additional images of alleged child pornography were found in an iCloud account that belonged to Reitz, the statement said.

Further investigation of the iCloud account revealed alleged text exchanges between the troopers that allegedly included sexually explicit conversations about an underage girl, it said.

According to the statement, Knox asked Reitz for details about sex acts he’d like to perform on the child during a text exchange on Aug. 27, 2018.

“The following day, the pair had another sexually explicit text exchange, during which Reitz sent Knox photos of people at a nudist location,” the statement said.

The images included photos of two exposed girls, it said.

“Knox failed to report that Reitz shared items of child pornography with her,” the statement said.

Reitz has been suspended since his arrest in April 2019.

The troopers were charged after an investigation by the Financial and Cyber Crimes Bureau of the state’s Division of Criminal Justice.

NEWARK, N.J. – A Union County, New Jersey, man was arrested today by federal agents on charges of mortgage fraud and scheming to defraud the Orange Public Library, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Shenandoah Adams Sr., a/k/a “Shane Adams Sr.,” 54, of New Providence, New Jersey, is charged by indictment with six counts of wire fraud and two counts of making false statements in connection with a mortgage loan. He is scheduled to appear this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Leda Dunn Wettre in Newark federal court.

According to the indictment:

Adams was a principal of Adams Property Management and Investment Group Limited Liability Company (Adams Property Management), which purchased property on Hilton Street in East Orange, New Jersey, in 2014. The following year, Adams arranged for a close associate (Individual 1) to obtain a $153,562 loan from a mortgage lender to purchase the Hilton Street property from Adams Property Management. Adams knew that Individual 1 did not have the money to pay the balance of the purchase price of $225,000. At the closing on March 25, 2015, Adams directed Individual 1 to issue a fraudulent check in the amount of $90,280.47 (the balance of the purchase price) to give the false impression that Individual 1 had paid the closing balance. Adams reassured Individual 1 that Adams would not negotiate the check. Adams signed a settlement statement, falsely certifying that Individual 1 paid the closing balance and that the settlement statement was a true and accurate statement of all receipts and disbursements made in connection with the sale of the Hilton Street property, when Adams knew that Individual 1’s check was fraudulent. Adams used Individual 1’s loan proceeds to pay off Adams Property Management’s $100,000 mortgage loan to purchase the Hilton Street Property and to obtain a $26,335.30 check for Adams Property Management.

Although Adams reassured Individual 1 that Adams would fund Individual 1’s mortgage payments, by May 2016 Individual 1’s mortgage payments on the Hilton Street property were substantially in arrears. Adams arranged for Individual 1 to sell the property to another associate for a price of $255,000. The closing on that sale commenced on May 31, 2016; the total amount to pay off Individual 1’s mortgage was $210,565.34. On June 1, 2016, Adams and Individual 1 had a telephone conversation with an out-of-state representative of the mortgage servicer for Individual 1’s lender, during which Adams made false and fraudulent statements to induce the lender to reduce the payoff amount. The lender agreed to reduce Individual 1’s payoff amount to $190,000. At Adams’s direction, Individual 1 cashed the check for the amount of the reduction, $20,665.34, and delivered the cash proceeds to Adams.

Adams also was a principal of VH Electrical and Plumbing Limited Liability Company (VH). On March 11, 2015, Adams, on behalf of VH, entered into a contract with the Orange Public Library to replace the library’s HVAC/Chiller unit for a price of $49,000. The project was funded by a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant to the library and Orange.

Before getting the contract with the library, Adams sent the library’s executive director, Timur Davis, two fake quotes purportedly from two vendors to give the false impression that VH would replace the library’s chiller for less than those other vendors. After VH had been hired, Adams sent Davis records to give the false impression that Adams was taking steps to order a replacement chiller. Adams received $40,000 from the library, but did not replace the chiller. Davis pleaded guilty on Feb.13, 2020 to making false statements to HUD in connection with the project.

The charges of wire fraud carry a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a maximum $250,000 fine. The charges of making false statements in connection with a mortgage application carries a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a maximum potential fine of $1 million.

U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Gregory W. Ehrie in Newark; special agents of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Christina Scaringi; and special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge John R. Tafur, with the investigation leading to today’s arrest.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys J Imbert and Cari Fais of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Special Prosecutions Division.

The charges and allegations contained in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Defense counsel: TBD

NEWARK, N.J. – A Bergen County doctor today admitted distributing opioids without a legitimate medical reason and falsifying medical records to cover it up, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

CNBNews graphics file

Robert Delagente, 45, of Oakland, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Claire C. Cecchi in Newark federal court to an indictment charging him with one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled dangerous substances, three counts of distribution of controlled dangerous substances, and one count of falsifying medical records.

“This defendant knowingly prescribed for his patients some of the most dangerous and addictive drugs available, sometimes with no more contact than a text message from the patient,” U.S. Attorney Carpenito said. “Many of these patients were dealing with pain and addiction, and instead of getting help from their doctor, they were drawn deeper into the cycle of drug abuse. His admission of guilt today ensures that he will be appropriately punished for this behavior.”

“Dr. Delagente sold his ethics, his medical license, and his moral compass,” FBI-Newark Special Agent in Charge Gregory W. Ehrie said. “There is no magic elixir for the pain caused by pill mill doctors. The cure is public awareness, victims who come forward and a determined fleet of FBI investigators who will arrest these unscrupulous practitioners when they run afoul of the law.”

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

Beginning in May 2014, Delagente was a doctor at a medical practice called North Jersey Family Medicine (NJFM) in Oakland, New Jersey. He allegedly described himself in conversations pertaining to his prescribing of painkillers as the “Candy Man” and the “El Chapo of Opioids.” Delagente knowingly prescribed controlled substances, such as oxycodone, Percocet, Tylenol with codeine, and various benzodiazepines (alprazolam, diazepam, clonazepam, and temazepam), outside the ordinary course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose. He ignored the inherent danger and medical risk of overdose, drug abuse, and death that can accompany prescriptions of highly addictive opioids, benzodiazepines, and muscle relaxers, both on their own and in combination with one another.

Delagente prescribed controlled substances without ever seeing the purported patient for a medical visit or even discussing with the patient the medical need for the prescription. He allowed patients to ask him for controlled substances via text message and would write a prescription for patients that he would leave at the front desk, without requiring an office visit or consultation of any kind. He allowed patients to dictate the strength and dosage of the controlled substances he prescribed for them. Delagente also prescribed the dangerous drug combination known as the “Holy Trinity,” comprised of opioids (usually oxycodone), benzodiazepines (usually alprazolam) and muscle relaxers (usually carisoprodol).

Delagente failed to monitor patients for addiction and ignored drug screening tests to determine whether certain patients were taking illicit drugs. In fact, Delagente prescribed controlled substances to patients he knew were addicted to opioids or other controlled substances. In one instance, an NJFM employee texted Delagente that a patient had gotten a babysitter and driven a long distance to get to the practice, but had been unable to see a doctor. Delagente responded: “Oh well … C’est la vie! Lol … He can wait for his oral heroin another day. Lol.”

One patient texted Delagente that the patient “probably can’t stop the pk’s,” referring to painkillers. The patient told Delagente that the patient “would need a plan to stop…not cold turkey.” A few days later, when the patient was having trouble obtaining pain medication, the patient wrote to Delagente that “If I go 4 days without [painkillers] I am in huge trouble.” In response, Delagente wrote “I will leave you a short supply RX [prescription] at the front to pick up.” Delagente then wrote the patient a prescription for 120 tablets of 30-milligram oxycodone for 30 days. Delagente at one point told this patient: “I’m literally sticking my neck out and can lose my medical license or [be] arrested for what I just did.”

Delagente also was charged with altering medical records of patients who received controlled substance prescriptions from him after law enforcement officials had subpoenaed the records in late April 2019.

Delagente faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine on each of the distribution of controlled dangerous substances charges. Delagente faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the charge of falsifying medical records. Sentencing for Delagente is scheduled for June 10, 2020.

U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Ehrie in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jason S. Gould of the Health Care Fraud Unit and Sean M. Sherman of the Opioids Unit in Newark.