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Irvington Man Sentenced To 40 Months in Prison For Defrauding Banks
By KIM KINTER
Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times
MOUNTAINSIDE An Irvington resident who was indicted about a year ago for allegedly defrauding two Mountainside banks and using false names and addresses to conduct an unlawful business has been sentenced in Federal Court in Newark.
Eusebio Anthony Mendoza, 48, was sentenced to 40 months in prison, three years probation and ordered to pay $119,500 in restitution to Fleet Bank. Parole in the Federal Court system rarely occurs so it is likely Mendoza will serve the full 40 months, a Federal Court spokesman said.
Mendoza was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge William H. Walls on April 28.
Mendoza is being held by U.S. Marshals in New Jersey until he is assigned to a Federal prison.
Mendoza was arrested by Postal Inspectors and detectives from the Mountainside and Irvington Police Departments in a joint raid on his Irvington home on February 3, 1998 on local theft by deception charges. He was indicted on May 8, 1998 in
Federal Court on five separate counts, and pled guilty June 25, 1998, to the first two counts of the indictment.
During the February raid, authorities reportedly discovered a photo imaging system along with blank New Jersey driver’s licenses, Social Security cards and other false identification. Mountainside police at the time described the high-tech plan as perhaps one of the largest fraud schemes in Union County’s history.
Mendoza’s scheme began to unravel more than a year ago when a New York doctor reported to Fleet Bank that some illegal transactions had been made from his account, said Anthony Esposito, who is both an inspector and public information officer for the Newark Division of the United States Postal Inspection Service. The Postal Inspection Service is the “law enforcement” arm of the postal service, Mr. Esposito said.
Officials said Mendoza used sophisticated technology to create phony identification for himself in order to gain access to the bank accounts of wealthy professionals,
WHS Students Face Charges of Passing Counterfeit $20 Bills
By SUZETTE F. STALKER
Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times
WESTFIELD – Two 16-year-old students at Westfield High School were charged at police headquarters last week with using counterfeit currency to make purchases in the school cafeteria, authorities confirmed.
According to Detective Sergeant John M. Parizeau of the Westfield Police Department, law enforcement officials received a report from the high school on April 23 about forged $20 bills possibly having been passed at the school.
He said the teenagers were charged on April 28 following an investigation by the department’s Juvenile Bureau. One student was charged with uttering a forged instrument (a
counterfeit $20 bill), while the other was charged with issuing forged currency.
Both suspects, who are Westfield residents, were released to the custody of their parents, Sergeant Parizeau confirmed.
Detective Sergeant John R. Rowe, 3rd, of the Juvenile Bureau said he believes the situation did not extend beyond the bills passed in the cafeteria.
“It doesn’t appear to be a widespread thing,” he remarked.
Although describing the forgery effort as a “kid-level attempt” at manufacturing counterfeit bills, he said authorities are checking the serial number of the recovered $20s with the Secret Service, “to make
Letter Carriers Continue Protest at S.P. Post Office
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Mountainside BOE Swears in Members; Mulls School Safety
By DEBORAH MADISON
Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times
MOUNTAINSIDE – At the Mountainside Board of Education’s recent installation meeting, two newlyelected board members, John Perrin and Peter Goggi, were sworn in.
Board President Patricia Taeschler and Vice President Sally Rivieccio were both reelected to their respective positions. They were each the sole nominees for their posts.
Frances Tolley, who is also the Acting Interim Board Administrator, was approved as Board Secretary. A new Board Administrator will be voted in by Thursday, July 1, with Ms. Tolley remaining as Secretary.
Other appointments during the April 27 meeting included Frank Geiger, who was reelected as Berkeley Heights’ representative on the school board.
During the meeting, the board also approved people to serve as School Attorney and School Physician, and Suplee-Clooney to continue as the district’s auditor.
Board member Linda Esemplare expressed a dissatisfaction with the auditing firm, saying Suplee-Clooney did not deliver the last year’s audit in a timely manner. A decision was reached to re-open the discussion in the fall to consider other bids for an auditor.
The board approved the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month as its meeting nights. The Courier News
was designated as the official newspaper to announce Board of Education meetings.
Resident Michele Hopkins stated that she, like many other residents, were dissatisfied with this decision, as most residents subscribe to The Star Ledger, not The Courier News.
The board defended its decision, stating that The Courier News needed less notification time and would, therefore, more readily satisfy the legal obligation of the board to post the scheduling of emergency meetings.
By a unanimous vote, The Westfield Leader was added to the list of newspapers designated as disseminators of Board of Education news, along with The Star Ledger, the Suburban News and the Echo Leader.
Ms. Taeschler directed that a moment of silence be taken to remember the students and teacher slain at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado on April 20, before the board’s discussion of how the district could take measures to avert similar tragedies.
All board members agreed that tighter safety controls in all of the school buildings are an important consideration, as well as implementing other preventive strategies.
Chief School Administrator, Dr. Gerard Schaller, distributed a crisismanagement booklet, which he put together, outlining procedures to be followed in the event of various emergencies. A copy will be given to Mountainside Police Chief James Debbie for review before being finalized.
Dr. Schaller also reported that guidance counselors have received special instructions on how to handle students who may have concerns following the Colorado tragedy.
A surveillance camera and monitor will be installed in Governor Livingston High School in Berkeley Heights, which enrolls Mountainside students, to monitor visitors coming in through the front door, which will
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By KIM KINTER
Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times
SCOTCH PLAINS – Informational pickets were set up at the Scotch Plains Post Office Tuesday between 4 and 7:45 p.m. to highlight problems a local branch of the National Association of Letter Carriers union says it is continuing to have with management.
The pickets were manned by members of the Scotch Plains local union, which represents letter carriers, and also members of the mid-state New Jersey American Postal Workers, which represents the post office clerks, and union members from the Plainfield and Westfield Post offices. About 28 workers carried pickets.
Although the disagreement involves only the local letter carrier union in Scotch Plains, the clerks union in Plainfield and Westfield union members picketed in support of the Scotch Plains workers.
All pickets were set up at the end of the day, after the carriers had delivered their mail. An informational
flyer with telephone numbers of Postal officials in Newark and Congressmen and detailing the alleged problems were passed out to passersby who had questions.
Elizabeth Mulligan, President of Branch No. 4102, said that the union has been trying to work with management over the last several months over problems that workers are having with a new supervisor who joined the Scotch Plains Post Office last September. The union President alleges that the supervisor has been unduly hard on some letter carriers and has shown favoritism.
Problems seemed to begin when one employee talked to the supervisor about being sexually harassed by another employee, she said.
The employee, Joan Donovan, told
The Westfield Leader that the complaint was not handled to her satisfaction and she has since filed Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) complaints over the matter.
The union, Ms. Mulligan said, has
William A. Burke for The Times
INFORMATIONAL PICKETING…Union employees from the Scotch Plains, Westfield and Plainfield Post Offices joined together in an informational picket set up outside the Scotch Plains Post Office Tuesday evening. Picketing took place to inform residents about problems the local branch of the National Association of Letter Carriers union says it is continuing to have with management at the Scotch Plains Post Office.
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