The annual inspections begin next week

NEWARK-- The fire department will be conducting mandatory inspections of fire hydrants next week, Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose said in a statement.

The hydrants will be checked for missing components like bolts and will also be opened to ensure they are working properly. Opening hydrants may cause temporary discoloration of tap water, so residents are advised to let the tap run until the water appears clear. Residents are also advised to refrain from washing clothes in discolored water.

The inspections will take place beginning April 17 and continue through May 6.

For questions or for additional information, call the Water Department at (973) 733-6303.

Paul Milo may be reached at pmilo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@PaulMilo2. Find NJ.com on Facebook.  

It's our first hot takes of the season and we take a look around the state.

NJ.com introduces the first installment of group Hitters and Pitchers of the Week

There are 87 athletes that will represent the Garden State when the 123rd running of the Penn Relays is held at the University of Pennsylvania's Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

Syed rushed to the back of the cabin, where a 24-year-old woman was lying in pain. Her pulse was faint with no palpable blood pressure, he said.

JERSEY CITY -- Dr. Amer Syed was in the right place at the right time Sunday evening.

The Jersey City-based doctor was on a flight home from Los Angeles after celebrating his friends' wedding. Syed was nodding in and out of sleep when an announcement came over the intercom from the flight crew.

"All of a sudden I heard overhead there was a medical emergency and asked if there were any physicians on board," said Syed, who specializes in internal medicine.

Syed rushed to the back of the cabin, where a 24-year-old woman was lying in pain. Her pulse was faint with no palpable blood pressure, he said.

The woman's body temperature was a mere 95 degrees, so the doctor worked to help stabilize her with 1.5 liters of fluid. Had the flight not already been approaching Newark Liberty International Airport, Syed said he would have been prepared to cut into the woman's abdomen to fully stabilize her.

Interviewed yesterday morning, Syed said he was "surprised by the inadequacies of the airline."

The flight, United Airlines 510, did not have any lifesaving medication -- pain killers or antibiotics -- on board, he said. 

"The stethoscope wasn't even working," Syed said, adding that he didn't have his own on hand because he was coming back from a vacation.  

Once the plane landed, Syed carried the woman off the plane with help from the crew and she was taken to Beth Israel Hospital in Newark. Her updated condition was not immediately available.

"I'm just simply appalled by the lack of quality of life saving equipment and medications on that flight," Syed said. 

When contacted by phone Monday morning, a United Airlines spokeswoman directed all requests for comment to the company's media relations department. A spokesman responded to an email with information regarding an incident where a passenger was dragged off an overbooked plane in Chicago.

United Airlines has not yet commented on the medical equipment that was on board the Newark-bound plane. 

United Airlines has faced scrutiny in recent months. In March three girls wearing leggings were not allowed to board a flight because they were not "in compliance with (the company's) dress code. Last April, a heavyset Jersey City man said he was booted from a plane because another passenger complained about sitting next to him. 

Syed said he would not consider himself a hero because of his humility, and this is the profession he chose. The biggest reward, for him was seeing the woman smile at him when she started to come through. 

Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.

The shooting took place in a third-floor hallway of the Newark building

NEWARK -- A  26-year-old man was killed and a woman injured in a shooting late Monday night in Newark, authorities said.

The shooting took place at 10:45 p.m. in a third-floor hallway on Ridgewood Avenue near the intersection with Madison Avenue, according to officials.

Maurice Fate of Newark was pronounced dead at 11:13 p.m. A 41-year-old woman was treated for injuries not considered life-threatening.

No arrests have been made. The shooting remains under investigation.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

The Fight for Air Climb, one of the American Lung Association's top fundraising events, raised more than $92,000 to raise awareness for lung diseases over the weekend. Watch video

NEWARK -- Hundreds scaled the Newark Gateway Tower Saturday morning in a charity-run that left many breathless, especially the firefighters who took the 28 flights of stairs in full gear.

The Fight for Air Climb, one of the American Lung Association's top fundraising events, raised more than $92,000 to raise awareness for lung diseases over the weekend.

In North Jersey, just across the water from New York City, a few firefighters said they made the climb for their fellow firefighters who suffered from lung cancer after 9/11.

Others just participated for bragging rights in the firehouse. 

A firefighter heads up the final flight of stair to complete the Fight For Air Climb at One Gateway Center in Newark. April 8, 2017. Ashlee Espinal | For NJ Advance Media 

The run, or walk for most, took participants from the lower level of One Gateway Center in Newark to the tower's 26th floor. The climb took participants between 4 and 12 minutes. 

Dozens of firefighters from Newark and surrounding towns performed the climb in full turnout gear -- helmets, jacket, pants, bailout gear and gloves.

A few even donned an oxygen tank for the 28 flights. 

"You know, you just have that adrenaline that keeps you going," said Newark Fire Chief Rufus L. Jackson when asked how firefighters are able to battle a blaze after climbing numerous flights of stairs. "You just have a job to do."

The gear weighed more than 40 pounds. The tank added another 45 pounds. 

The first group to go up was running to remember a member of their family. 

"My mom died from lung cancer when I was 4 and we thought this would be a fun way to honor her," said 12-year-old Talon Falcone, of Ottsville, Pa.

Falcone said his uncle, Ted, got the family together for the event the last three years.

"He mentioned it to us and we thought it would be a fun thing," he said. 

Karen Isky, the American Lung Association's development director for the mid-Atlantic, said more than 300 climbers participated on Saturday. 

Craig McCarthy may be reached at CMcCarthy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @createcraig and on Facebook here. Find NJ.com on Facebook. 

About 130 in the state will be jobless by June 30

All 323 Dollar Express stores, including 15 in New Jersey, are going out of business but it might only be temporary.

Dollar Express is being purchased by Dollar General, which plans to close the stores while it refurbishes them, according to freep.com. An unknown number will re-open as Dollar General within six weeks.

About 130 Dollar Express workers in New Jersey will be put out of work, according to a WARN notices filed with the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

The New Jersey locations closing by June 30:

• Belmar
• Brigantine
• East Orange
• Elizabeth (2)
• Ewing
• Glassboro
• Hamilton (Mercer)
• Irvington
• Mount Holly
• Newark (2)
• Paterson
• Pleasantville
• Vineland

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

As an Essex County assistant prosecutor in the 1970s Roberts helped put Harlem heroin kingpin Frank Lucas behind bars.

NEWARK -- More than 40 years after he helped convict Harlem heroin kingpin Frank Lucas of drug-trafficking crimes, former Essex County assistant prosecutor Richie Roberts found himself in front of a federal judge Tuesday with legal troubles of his own.

Roberts, accompanied by Assistant Federal Public Defender Lisa Mack, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas in Newark to charges of failing to collect and pay payroll taxes from his Newark law firm, and also failing to pay his personal income taxes.

Speaking to NJ Advance Media by phone following the hearing, Roberts, 79, of Bloomfield, said he was "totally embarrassed."

"I've let down myself, most importantly my family, and my friends," he said. "I love the law, and I have spent my life upholding the law. To violate the law and my principles is an obscenity."

Now a private criminal defense attorney, Roberts served as a county detective and then an assistant prosecutor in the 1970s, when he obtained an indictment against Lucas -- the most powerful heroin dealer in Harlem -- for his role in a Newark drug ring.

Sentenced to 70 years in prison, Lucas became a government informant and served just six years, The Star-Ledger reported.

The case was later made into the 2007 film "American Gangster" -- starring Russell Crowe as Roberts and Denzel Washington as Lucas -- whose producers paid both men undisclosed amounts for the rights to their story.

Roberts, then in private practice, later represented Lucas during a 2011 Essex County court case involving the theft of disability assistance funds, for which Lucas was sentenced to probation.

Roberts, whose law license is suspended, failed to pay any payroll taxes for tax years 2009 through 2011, and hasn't paid personal income taxes since at least 2000, prosecutors said in a statement.

Authorities said the charges against him were the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service's criminal division and investigators from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Roberts faces a maximum potential sentence of five years in prison for failing to pay over payroll taxes, and up to one year in prison for failing to pay personal income taxes, according to prosecutors. 

He also faces fines of up to $350,000, or twice his gain or the government's loss on each count.

Under the terms of his plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office, prosecutors won't pursue further charges against Roberts for other tax crimes, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Kogan told the court.

Salas scheduled Roberts' sentencing for Aug. 1. 

Thomas Moriarty may be reached at tmoriarty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ThomasDMoriarty. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

The victim was hit near Wyoming Avenue

MILLBURN -- A person identified only as a trespasser was struck and killed by a train Tuesday night, NJ Transit said. 

The victim was hit around 10:22 p.m. near Wyoming Avenue. None of the 150 passengers and crew aboard the train, 6676 from Dover to Penn Station, were injured. 

Service was suspended between Broad Street in Newark and Summit Tuesday night. 

Paul Milo may be reached at pmilo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@PaulMilo2. Find NJ.com on Facebook.  

Charges against Michael J. Hansen of North Bergen have been upgraded to death by auto

NORTH BERGEN -- A Hudson County corrections officer charged in a hit-and-run crash that killed two people in North Bergen last week had been drinking heavily before the accident, then returned to the two bars he'd been at afterward, prosecutors said in court on Wednesday.

Because investigators concluded he was driving drunk and recklessly, the charges against the corrections officer, Michael J. Hansen, 38, of North Bergen, have been upgraded to two counts of death by auto, the assistant Hudson County prosecutor handling the case said during a detention hearing in Jersey City.

Assistant Prosecutor Keith Travers said Hansen's blood-alcohol level was .27, or more than three times the legal limit, when he was arrested about nine hours after the April 2 incident, which happened at about 8 p.m. on a Sunday night.

Hansen was nonetheless ordered released by Superior Court Judge Paul DePascale. Travers said he could walk free as soon as Thursday. DePascale ordered Hansen to check in weekly with court officials, and barred him from driving or possessing firearms, but not from drinking alcohol.

The crash killed two well-known Hudson County Republican leaders, Russell Maffei, 57, and Marie Tauro, 80, both of Jersey City. They were struck and killed as they crossed Paterson Plank Road toward the Coach House Diner in North Bergen, where they were to attend a GOP meeting in advance of the Monday's filing deadline for the June primary.

Surveillance video captured the deadly incident, and Hansen was arrested at the North Bergen home where he had been staying with family members after authorities identified him as the owner of the SUV involved in the crash, prosecutors said.

Travers said witnesses had told investigators that Hansen had been out drinking Sunday night before the accident at Jimmy D's Blues Saloon in North Bergen, then went to a bar called the Hub Again in neighboring Union City, where he was so drunk the bartender refused to serve him.

It was after Hansen left Hub Again that he ran down Moffai and Tauro while traveling northbound on Paterson Plank Road, just off Kennedy Boulevard. After that, Travers said Hansen returned to both Jimmy D's and the Hub Again, where he was later picked up and driven home by his step-father.

Travers told the judge that Hansen's flight from the scene of the accident was an indication he could flee if released from detention. But Hansen's lawyer, John Appello, countered that his client had no prior criminal record and had been deemed the lowest-possible flight risk by court officials. 

Hansen had worked at the Hudson County Correctional Facility in Kearny, but he was being held in a different, undisclosed location due to concerns for his safety, according to the Hudson County Prosecutor's office.

Appello said Wednesday that his client had been held at the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark, and in court Hansen was wearing an orange Essex County Department of Corrections jumpsuit, as well as handcuffs.

"Even though this is a high-profile case, the judge did the right thing," Appello said after the hearing.

A spokesman for Hudson County said last week that Hansen had been suspended without pay from his $47,318 corrections job following his arrest, and that the county had taken preliminary steps to fire him pending the outcome of the criminal case.

He seemed to get on nicely with the NJ-11th For Change group that took the 3-hour bus trip to DC Wednesday. Then he slandered them. Watch video

Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen needs to have a town hall so that he can take a bow.

Seriously. The people of the 11^th District need to acknowledge that their congressman helped the U.S avoid the massive national coronary known as the American Health Care Act, because his rejection of this vindictive legislation essentially strangled it in its crib.

The chairman of the House Appropriations Committee needs to have a town hall so the folks who helped inspire his awakening can now applaud his good sense, and thank him for his poignant Jersey-centric message about how an Obamacare repeal would be devastating to his constituency.

But Frelinghuysen needs to have a town hall for other reasons, as there is still much to discuss.

He believes it's sufficient to hold 50-minute telephone chats, a cringe-worthy Q-and-non-A format you can sample on YouTube. It doesn't allow for depth or follow-ups, but it does allow him to retrofit himself as a champion of the environment, Planned Parenthood and the working man - all spectacular distortions, judging by his latest votes.

The congressman met with a few dozen people who took a bus down to D.C. Wednesday, which he hopes will placate the thousands who seek their first public Rodney sighting since the fall of 2013. For four months, they assembled at his three Jersey offices and were ignored. The visit he received from the NJ-11^th For Change folks should convince him that these are not barbarians. They are good and smart people. They bring him baked goods.

But deigning to meet a few dozen people doesn't satisfy the accessibility needs of 640,000 constituents.

Only a public meeting does that. Only town halls can determine whether his allegiance is with colleagues from Alabama and Arkansas - who are reportedly outraged by his AHCA rebuff - or with families from Madison and Montclair.

He still needs to explain why he voted to repeal the stream protection rule - which forbade coal companies from dumping toxic waste into our rivers. He seems to think it was a bad rule just because it was conceived in the last three months of a Democratic administration.

His father stood up to McCarthyism. This N.J. rep shows no such mettle | Editorial

He needs to explain why he agrees that Donald Trump should release his tax returns, yet still voted against the resolution to enforce that release. His constituents should not have to accept "I support the ruling of the chair regardless of what the issue is" as his excuse.

He needs to clarify why he flatly rejected a potential U.S. strike on Syria after its use of chemical weapons in 2013, only to pull out the pom-poms and Twitter atta-boys ("He acted decisively!") in 2017, and he needs to declare whether he is willing to authorize further military action.

He needs to reconcile his squishy support for Planned Parenthood, and he needs to be reminded that there has been a 68-percent increase in bacterial STI's in his beloved Morris County ever since Gov. Christie erased Planned Parenthood's $7.5 million annual subsidy.

He needs to explain how fiscal responsibility is his hallmark while tolerating the $50- to $60-million annual price tag for the First Lady's New York City security detail.

Why is this pro-Trump congressman hiding? | Editorial

He needs to explain why he has voted Trump's way 25 straight times this session without once wandering off the GOP reservation.

And he needs to explain why his latest campaign mailer refers to NJ-11^th For Change as "Bernie Sanders-style activists" who are "lying" about his record without offering any examples, and explain why he thinks it's OK to raise funds by slandering thousands of people who are just looking for honest discourse.

The Easter recess runs through April 25^th. That leaves time for Rep. Frelinghuysen to hold a town hall, take a bow, and take some questions. There is a lot to talk about.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.

The protests will include New Orleans'-style funeral marches on several campuses, according to union leaders.

TRENTON -- Professors and other staff at several New Jersey public colleges will protest Wednesday as they approach nearly two years without a contract.

The protests will include New Orleans'-style funeral marches on some campuses and a teach-in at Kean University, according to union leaders for the Council of New Jersey State College Locals.

The more than 10,000-member union represents professors, adjunct professors and other professional staff at the state's four-year public colleges and universities, excluding Rutgers University and New Jersey Institute of Technology. 

Union members at the public colleges work under a master contract negotiated with the state and have been without a contract since July 2015. Because of rising health care costs, the college faculty and staff members are bringing home less pay now than they were there five years ago, the union said. 

N.J. colleges that pay professors the most

"What I hear from members is that morale is low," said Nat Bender, communications director for the union. 

The average professor makes more than $100,000 at each of New Jersey's four-year public colleges, but associate and assistant professors make much less. Adjunct, or part-time, professors are paid just a few thousand dollars per class. 

Union members have not received step increases -- pay raises when workers reach milestones in years of service -- for the past two years because of the way the Christie administration is handling contract stalemates, Bender said.

For decades, New Jersey honored step increases from expired contracts until a new contract was reached. In recent years, the state has stopped paying those raises, forcing the unions to go to court. 

One reason negotiations between the state and college faculty are stalled is a proposal to cut pay for certain courses, Bender said. 

The union represents faculty and staff at Ramapo College, The College of New Jersey and Kean, Montclair State, New Jersey City, Stockton, Rowan, Thomas Edison State and William Paterson universities. 

Adam Clark may be reached at adam_clark@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on twitter at @realAdamClark. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Twice a year, a national health care consumer group releases a report examining how well hospitals are doing to protect patients from errors, accidents and other harm.

The Garden State has produced some of the most amazing national records for high school sports. Ever wonder what they are? We have the answers.

The Newark Police Department is asking for the public's help to locate nine suspects wanted for auto theft and theft from auto incidents.

NEWARK -- City police are asking for the public's help to find nine suspects wanted for separate auto-related thefts.

The nine have outstanding warrants, Newark Public Safety Director Anthony F. Ambrose said. The suspects are also wanted for questioning in auto thefts or theft from auto cases and either live in Newark or frequent the city, police said. 

Authorities are searching for:

• Lamont Lee, 18, of Newark
• Juan A. Flores, 37, of Newark
• Keith Marshall, 52, of Newark
• Nyshod Minter, 18, of Newark
• Alex Martinez, 26, of Newark
• Jahad Salter, 20, of Newark
• Joseph R. Murphy, 28, of Newark
• Mwamba Mutela, 34, of Paterson
• Amjad H. Abujudeh, 36 of Newark and Montclair

Anyone with information can call the Crime Stopper tip line at 1-877-NWK-TIPS (1-877-695-8477) or 1-877-NWK-GUNS (1-877-695-4867).  

Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook. 

A 20-year-old Newark man was charged with gun, heroin, crack and marijuana offenses after a motor vehicle stop in Harrison on Sunday.

JERSEY CITY -- A 20-year-old Newark man was charged with gun, heroin, crack and marijuana offenses after a motor vehicle stop in Harrison on Sunday. 

A police officer said Anderson Cespedes, of the 600 block of Martin Luther King Boulevard, was driving a heavily tinted BMW carelessly on Harrison Avenue when he pulled it over and detected an odor of marijuana, a criminal complaint says.

Cespedes, who had a warrant for his arrest out of Newark, was removed from the vehicle and taken into custody. Police then found a pink book bag in the car containing a 9mm handgun loaded with four hollow-point bullets and two regular rounds, the complaint says.

The officers also found more than 50 grams of marijuana, 15 wax folds containing heroin with the logo "Gucci," more than seven grams of crack cocaine and thousands of dollars, the complaint says.

Cespedes made his first court appearance on the numerous weapon and drug charges yesterday in Criminal Justice Reform Court in Jersey City via video link from Hudson County jail in Kearny.

At the hearing, the state moved to detain Cespedes pending trial and a detention hearing will be heard Monday before Hudson County Superior Court Judge Paul DePascale. 

A woman who alleged that she had crippling injuries after she was struck by a fuel tanker at a gas station settled for $3.6 million, according to New Jersey Law Journal.

CLIFTON -- A woman who alleged that she had crippling injuries after she was struck by a fuel tanker at a gas station settled for $3.6 million, according to New Jersey Law Journal.

Maria Arias, now 60, said she was in her car more than four years ago at the Gulf Station at Paulison Ave., and Comfort Place in Clifton, when a truck that had just finished a delivery backed into the driver side of her car and pushed it 10 to 15 feet, according to the report.

Arias' lawyer reportedly said the driver only stopped when a bystander told him what was happening.

Arias claimed that the incident caused multiple injuries to her spine and is unable to work or perform household chores and needs her husband's help to bathe. Arias and her husband claimed in the suit that medical expenses were $500,000, according to the report.

The suit named both the truck's owner, DOQ Transport Inc., and 595 Petro Inc., the owner of the gas station and the case was settled in November.

The defendants reportedly argued that the truck was traveling too slowly to inflict such damage. Arias countered that she had no prior injuries.

DOQ agreed to $3.5 million and 595 Petro agreed to pay $100,000. Representatives for the defendants did not return the publication's requests for comment.

Sara Jerde may be reached at sjerde@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SaraJerde.

University Hospital female surgeons have added their own photo to the online collection mimicking a recent cover of The New Yorker.

No sooner had The New Yorker magazine published an illustration by a French artist for its annual Health, Medicine & the Body issue last week than the call went out:

If you're a female surgeon, grab your female coworkers and replicate the artwork, tweeted a Susan Pitt, an endocrine surgeon at the University of Wisconsin. She urged them to share the results on Twitter, using the hashtag ILookLikeASurgeon.

Posts from around the world are now rolling in.

#NYerORCoverChallenge >150 @WomenSurgeons from [?] [?] [?] [?] [?] [?] [?] [?] [?] [?] [?] [?] [?] [?] [?] [?] [?] [?] inspired by @NewYorker @malikafavre If you #ILookLikeASurgeon Join us!!! pic.twitter.com/3Jm9taWbMP

-- Susan Pitt (@susieQP8) April 11, 2017

The ladies of the OR at University Hospital in Newark soon coordinated their own photo shoot, squeezing seven of them into one shot.

The doctors in the photo are (starting from the left, with the woman wearing glasses):

• Stephanie Bonne, Trauma Surgeon, New Jersey Trauma Center at University Hospital and Assistant Professor of Surgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
• Ana Berlin, Attending Physician, Department of General Surgery, University Hospital and Assistant Professor of Surgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
• Nina Elizabeth Glass, Trauma Surgeon, New Jersey Trauma Center at University Hospital, and Assistant Professor of Surgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
• Anne C. Mosenthal, Professor and Chair, Department of Surgery, University Hospital and Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
• Anastasia Kunac, Trauma Surgeon, New Jersey Trauma Center at University Hospital and Assistant Professor of Surgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
• Joanelle A. Bailey, Resident, Department of Surgery, University Hospital and Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and University Hospital
• Franchesca Hwang, Department of Surgery, University Hospital and Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and University Hospital

The photo was taken by obliging co-worker Paul Johnson, who is one of the General Surgery residents at the hospital, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Kathleen O'Brien may be reached at kobrien@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @OBrienLedger. Find NJ.com on Facebook.  

He was one of two men -- the other an inmate -- who admitted to filing false tax returns seeking more than $600,000 in fraudulent refunds.

NEWARK -- A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced an East Orange man to more than two years in prison for filing fraudulent tax returns on behalf of inmates at the Essex County Correctional Facility.

Winfred Moses, 49, previously pleaded guilty in Newark federal court to conspiring to make fraudulent claims to the Internal Revenue Service, according to a statement from the office of Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick.

U.S. District Judge William H. Walls sentenced Moses to 26 months in prison, as well as three years of supervised release and $200,045 in restitution.

Prosecutors said that from 2013 and August 2014, Moses and Reginald Eaford, 46, gathered social security numbers and other personal information from inmates at the Essex County jail. They used that information to generate W-2s indicating the inmates had taxes withheld from paychecks during that tax year.

Moses and Eaford, an East Orange resident who was incarcerated at the jail from May 2013 to February 2014, later used that information to file 112 fraudulent tax returns seeking $670,206 in refunds, according to prosecutors.

Duo pleads guilty in inmate tax scheme

Authorities said the proceeds from the scheme were divided among the two men and the inmates.

Prosecutors said Eaford, who pleaded guilty along with Moses in December 2016, is still awaiting sentencing.

Thomas Moriarty may be reached at tmoriarty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ThomasDMoriarty. Find NJ.com on Facebook.