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Rick King of Newark faces life without parole for the 2015 slaying in Irvington

A 33-year-old Newark man was convicted Monday of fatally shooting a liquor store employee who planned to testify against him for a previous robbery at the Irvington business.

Rick KingEssex County Prosecutor's Office 

Rick King faces life without parole after being convicted of murder, witness tampering, armed robbery, aggravated assault on a police officer and weapons offenses, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office said in a statement. The trial lasted two months. 

King walked into Roseway Liquors on the 700 block of Lyons Avenue, forced Amit Patel to the floor and shot him once in the head. 

The 28-year-old Edison resident died instantly, authorities said. The shooting took place just after 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 15, 2015.

After Patel's death, prosecutors moved to make his pre-trial statements to police officers admissible in court. 

Prosecutors said that King had claimed after Patel's death that he no longer had to worry about the murder charge. Law enforcement officers searching King's phone after the shooting found he had looked up information about Patel and the shooting, authorities said.

2 arrested in Irvington slaying

Prosecutors also said cameras on the streets near the liquor store showed a man wearing the same clothes as King was seen wearing that day entering and fleeing the store around time of the shooting.

King previously robbed the liquor store when Patel, the son of the owner, was working on Halloween in 2013.

King, who has five prior felony convictions, will be sentenced Jan. 19.

"The prosecution would like to commend the jurors for their unwavering focus during this long trial,'' Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Mira Ohm said. "Their verdict brings some measure of justice to the Patel family.''

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

A Newark community servant killed on Thanksgiving will not be forgotten.

The community meeting in Newark had ended, but a small crowd stayed for a candlelight vigil, chanting an affirmation that Shuri Henry believed was needed to improve life in the city she loved.

"Fear. Get out of my way. You're blocking my light.''

They repeated it three more times last Thursday to honor Henry, a community activist who was not afraid to speak her mind on how residents should change social conditions in Newark neighborhoods. Had she not been shot to death on Thanksgiving night, Henry would have been at the meeting she organized to get residents talking about solutions to community problems.

"She was the epitome of 'Say something, do something,' " said Desiree Love, her best friend. "She was down for Newark."

MORE: Recent Barry Carter columns

The unsavory underside of Newark didn't care what she meant to this city. Known as a peacemaker, Henry, 40, was with her nephew when she was carjacked and killed at 11 p.m. in front of the home where she lived her entire life on South 20th Street.

Newark residents gather during a candlelight vigil for Shuri Henry, a Newark community activist who was shot and killed returning home from Thanksgiving dinner.Barry Carter | The Star-Ledger 

Police arrested and charged Supreme A. Allah Jr., 18, of Newark, and a 14-year-old with murder, felony murder, robbery, carjacking, weapons offenses and conspiracy to commit murder. A third male, Antonio Torres, 20, was charged with eluding police.

Another spark in Newark is gone, taken too soon. The small crowd that remained after the meeting lit candles for Henry, vowing to take up her cause before they left the parking lot of the United Community Corp. building on South Eighth Street.

"She would have helped any one of those boys that hurt her," Love said. 

"They don't know what they did," said Fathiyyah Madyun, another longtime friend. "Her thing was, 'If I can help one person, that's one person.' "

The same sentiment registered from the pulpit Saturday during Henry's funeral at New Born Baptist Church in Newark. Family, friends and Newark city officials filled the sanctuary to celebrate Henry's life and speak of the woman who took community work seriously.

She did it block by block, house by house.

"If there was any funeral that I'm proud to speak at, it's this one," said Mayor Ras Baraka. "If we want to praise and honor her memory, then we have to continue the work that she did. We have to build and try to build what she was building."

West Ward Councilman Joseph McCallum spoke at the service too, saying he plans to work harder, knowing what his faithful constituent had done.

That's why the community meeting Henry planned was so important. Lyndon Brown, a district leader who helped her coordinate the event, made sure it would be held in her memory.

It's a good thing he did. More than 50 people came, including residents, community activists and Newark police officials. They split up into work groups and talked about how residents should respond to "crime scenarios" that Henry created for the meeting.

"Shuri would have been so pleased with this," said Brown, who knew her for 30 years.

Baraka was there, too, with a group of Newark men he called to get involved. Gov.-elect Phil Murphy came, too. He said Henry, who volunteered on his campaign, was similar to grassroots folks throughout history who are on the ground having an impact.

"She cared passionately about her community. She wanted to do anything she could, as all of you do, to get things better," Murphy said.

The impact of her death resonated beyond New Jersey, with other community organizers. Anthony Beverly, founder of Stop the Violence Indianapolis, and his mentor, attorney Berto Elmore, of Philadelphia, were at the meeting to show support.

"When I heard about this, I said we've got to go up there to see what they're doing,'' Beverly said.

That's because Henry had a story to tell.

Pall bearers carry the casket of Shuri Henry, a Newark communi0ty activist who was shot and killed returning home from Thanksgiving dinner.Barry Carter | The Star-Ledger 

Activism and community involvement came from two places close to her heart. She was influenced by her late mother, Cheryl Christine Cottle-Henry, a neighborhood organizer, and leaders at the former West Side unit of the Boys & Girls Club.

Henry was an active member as a teenager who traveled to national Boys & Girls club conferences. Through its pen pal program, Brown said, she wrote letters to Newark college students and lengthy notes to Newark soldiers serving in Afghanistan. When the decision was made to close the West Side unit, Henry protested the move and passed out fliers.

As secretary of the Boys & Girls Club of Newark alumni association, Henry and Brown hit the road to check on Newark college students or to attend their graduations. Marzell Brown, of Newark, remembers when she showed up at her alma mater, Virginia State.

"She was the one who would always be there,'' said Marzell Brown. "She was the one who would stay in contact with people."

After she graduated with an English major from Rutgers University-Newark, Henry continued her adventurous ways by teaching English in Germany. The move didn't surprise those familiar with her passion for life and education. Henry, who liked to travel, was a voracious reader. She'd devour two to three books a week on topics ranging from Greek mythology to romance literature, science fiction to education.

Her musical taste, friends say, was just as diverse, from classical, gospel and rock 'n' roll to rhythm and blues and hip-hop.

A walking rainbow of happiness, friends say, Henry was just as audacious about her appearance. The die-hard Pittsburgh Steelers fan had no problem changing the color of her hair from green to pink to blue, or wearing something outlandish.

"Shuri was everybody's extrovert," Madyun said.

MORE CARTER: The art of Uggie: Newark's beloved street dancer honored with statue | Carter

She was "kicks and giggles," the lively personality with a hearty laugh who kept everyone upbeat. In the darkest hour, Henry could find a reason to smile even as she cared for her mother who was battling breast cancer before she died in June.

The second of three siblings, Henry loved her family, her nephews as if they were her sons, and her cousins, who were like sisters. The bond she had with her parents was immeasurable.

"A father's love never dies," said Darryl Henry, her dad, after the funeral. "She will always be in my heart. I loved her from the first time I saw her to the time I closed the casket on her. My love for her will always last forever. As long as there is a me, there is a her (Shuri)."

Newark has work to do. Henry's mantra -- "No problem, let's get it done'' -- now belongs to the city to uphold.

Lyndon Brown started with the community meeting. He continued the day after Henry's death by giving Cherlyn Ruff, a homeless woman, the leftover Thanksgiving meal Henry had with her that night.

Ruff said she received a lot of food the day after Thanksgiving from kind strangers, but shared what she couldn't eat with others.

Henry would have done the same thing.

Barry Carter: (973) 836-4925 or bcarter@starledger.com or 

nj.com/carter or follow him on Twitter @BarryCarterSL

The case of David Nicoll and Biodiagnostic Laboratory led to prison sentences for dozens of doctors who sold their patients' blood for big payoffs, evenings with high-priced strippers, and in one case, a new car. The mastermind of it all has yet to be sentenced. The inside story of a $150 million scandal. Watch video

Earlier this year, a New Jersey man who built a $150 million business from nothing took the witness stand in a government prosecution.

In three startling days of testimony, he explained how his company won business in an already-competitive industry.

The bribes included high-end cars and impossible-to-get concert tickets.

The private jets took clients to Super Bowls and Caribbean islands.

And, of course, there were strippers.

By the end of those three days, David Nicoll had described something that sounded like a lost episode of The Sopranos. But Nicoll wasn't hauling garbage or running a gambling operation.

He was lining up for the right to test your blood.

And in the eyes of Nicoll, a former nurse and the brains behind Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services, there was only one way to do that -- pay off physicians, any way he could.

"Could you have run a lab without bribing doctors?" he was asked.

"No," Nicoll replied.

Nicoll claimed the only way he could compete was by bribing doctors. (Pixabay | stock photo)

The brazen case of medical fraud so far has led to 51 convictions, including 38 doctors, and is not done yet, 10 months after Nicoll's testimony in a federal courthouse in Newark.

More than a dozen people await sentencing, including Nicoll himself, in what is believed to be the largest number of medical professionals ever prosecuted in a federal bribery case.

But the inside story of the massive New Jersey medical scandal-- told here for the first time and pieced together from never-before-seen confidential records and text messages obtained after attorneys for NJ Advance Media went to court seeking their release -- paints a picture of an even wider-reaching scheme, involving many more doctors than were ever charged, and far greater excesses than had been disclosed.

While nearly 40 physicians were ultimately charged, Nicoll testified he actually paid off more than 100 to keep blood flowing to his lab.

He claimed to have provided prostitutes to at least five physicians in exchange for blood work orders and bought one doctor an Audi S5, a high-end turbocharged coupe that lists for more than $50,000. Three other doctors who agreed to send blood to Biodiagnostics were flown to Key West on a private jet to go deep-sea fishing.

Some doctors, after confronted by federal agents about the blood testing scheme, cooperated with the government, with at least one agreeing to secretly record conversations that implicated others.

The government said the scheme brought in $100 million, but that was a conservative estimate by Nicoll's own reckoning. He believed Biodiagnostic Lab took in more than $150 million in billed payments from Medicare and private insurance over eight years.

"I mean, I don't know for sure," he testified.

It was also a family affair.

Not only were Nicoll and his brother, Scott, charged in the case, so were others. The brother of David Nicoll's wife was charged and pleaded guilty. A cousin of Nicoll working as a salesman for Biodiagnostic also was charged and admitted guilt. So did the husband of another cousin.

In a steady stream of court hearings in federal court over the past four years, doctors across the metropolitan area have acknowledged accepting payoffs large and small to send blood specimens to the lab, which prosecutors said fraudulently billed Medicare and various private insurance companies for sometimes unnecessary or unordered test procedures.

Bribes were handed out like business cards.

Biodiagnostic not only devised fake office lease payments and bogus consulting agreements with doctors, but paid off others with prostitutes, private jet getaways across the country and hard-to-get concert tickets. Tickets for a Katy Perry concert? No problem. A charter flight to the Super Bowl? They had it covered. Monthly kickbacks were routine.

The lab's biggest monthly expense?

According to Nicoll, it was an exclusive New York strip club, where he dropped more than $10,000 one night to entertain two New York physicians--including a pediatrician who had bragged about how many blood tests he had ordered on young patients.

According to prosecutors, the blood lab also paid women to perform lap dances and engage in sex acts with the two brothers.

Nicoll claimed the lab's biggest monthly expense was the money he spent entertaining doctors at a New York strip club. (Pixabay | stock photo) 

Former U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, who first green-lighted a case he called "troubling and dangerous," never thought there would be so many doctors involved.

"I still wonder whether we found them all," he said.

David Nicoll, through his attorney, John Whipple of Morristown, declined to be interviewed for this story. He has not been deposed in ongoing civil cases against him. But he was far more forthcoming during his three days of testimony in February, as a key witness against Dr. Bernard Greenspan, one of only two of the many physicians caught up in the Biodiagnostic scandal who opted to go to trial.

Unapologetic at trial, the plan, explained Nicoll, had been simple from the start. There was no "unanalyzed blood" to be tested. There were a lot of other clinical labs, and there wasn't any new business out there to capture.

"We would be taking blood from other competitors," he said. "We were going to do whatever we needed to do to get the blood to the lab."

They paid bribes to Bret Ostrager, a Long Island physician who was getting $3,300 a month to send his patients' blood to Biodiagnostic Laboratory and admitted soliciting tickets for a Justin Bieber concert at Madison Square Garden, said federal prosecutors.

Greenspan, according to Nicoll, sent the lab $3 million worth of business, in return, the lab paid him $200,000 and also agreed to hire the girlfriend of the married 79-year-old doctor with whom he was having a romantic relationship.

And then there was Frank Santangelo, who was getting paid $50,000 a month by Biodiagnostic to refer his patients to the lab for blood testing. It apparently wasn't enough when he fell in love with a sleek BMW that came with a $100,000 price tag and texted Nicoll seeking more money, documents released by the U.S. Attorney's office showed.

That text and other incriminating texts would prove to be his undoing.

Santangelo gave his girlfriend his old phone before breaking up with her, according to the court filings obtained by NJ Advance Media. Not long afterward, she discovered the texts still on the phone, laying out the whole bribes-for-blood scheme and gave it to police.

Living large

Nicoll liked to spend money.

In his testimony, he recalled trips to four Super Bowls. He never got there flying coach. A chartered jet took him with friends and family to see the Steelers beat the Seahawks for Super Bowl XL in Detroit. Two Roman numerals later, he chartered another jet out of Morristown to cheer the Giants over the Patriots for Super Bowl XLII in Arizona, and again to the big games in Tampa and Texas.

He built a pool in the back of his suburban Morris Plains home. But not just any swimming pool.

"It was shaped like Mickey Mouse and it had a grotto like a cave and a water slide," Nicoll recalled in his court testimony. He wasn't kidding. From Google Maps, an aerial view of his former backyard, replete with a big circular pool and matching mouse ears, looks like an attraction at Walt Disney World. He said it cost $800,000.

Nicoll's $800,000 Mickey Mouse pool, as seen from above on Google Maps.

Then there was his garage.

To Chevy muscle car enthusiasts, the name of Don Yenko is legendary. The late Pennsylvania race driver was known for dropping large-block, high performance engines into stock Camaros, Chevelles and Novas. They were raw speed machines and are so rare and sought after by collectors today that some sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars--when you can find one.

Nicoll owned three of them.

Born in Teaneck, Nicoll grew up in the blue-collar town of North Bergen. He was a smart kid; brilliant say some who knew him. He attended Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa., where he earned a Bachelor in Science in biology and in mathematics and then went on to Seton Hall University, where he received a second bachelor's degree in science--this one in nursing.

After graduation, he worked for a home health care association.

One of David Nicoll's rare and expensive Yenko Chevy muscle cars. (Thomas Zambito | NJ Advance Media file photo)

Nicoll said he later worked at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark. Hospital officials have no record of him being on staff, although he could have been a per diem agency nurse. Whatever his status, he wasn't there long. By 2000, he said he left nursing to take a job as a pharmaceutical sales rep for Bristol-Myers Squibb.

The work of a pharma rep involves frequent face-to-face calls on physicians to provide them with the details of a drug, such as scientific literature, benefits and side effects.

At the same time, it's no secret that the pharmaceutical industry has long had a culture of using a wide variety of incentives to doctors to cultivate sales. There are speaking fees and conferences, reimbursement for travel, dinners and consulting contracts. By law, those payments now must be made public and last year pharmaceutical and medical device companies funneled $69 million to New Jersey doctors, records show.

Nicoll had far more modest resources. His responsibility as a sales rep was to promote a top cholesterol-lowering statin, a medication for diabetes, and various cardiac drugs, he said. Given an expense account, he was expected to buy lunches for doctors and their office staffs. The goal, he explained, was to build personal connections.

There were barbecues and dinners. He had a regular game of racquetball with a family practitioner then in his 60's who had 30 years on Nicoll, but somehow almost never lost a game to the much younger salesman.

Perpetually unkempt, Nicoll could be charismatic and charming.

"Doctors loved him," said a former friend. Yet there was a darker side, where he could just as easily turn "vicious and nasty," said the friend.

Following the birth of his son, Nicoll left Bristol-Myers Squibb to join a small specialized lab in North Carolina then marketing a new test for heart risk. According to Nicoll, doctors who ordered the test were offered an incentive--a $20 patient's specimen drawing and handling fee. That became an issue after he learned Medicare patients were not covered for the blood work.

"I was paid based on volume," Nicoll explained in court during the trial of Bernard Greenspan. And without the incentive, some physicians stopped ordering the test.

Nicoll figured out a way to game the system. He testified that he paid the Saddle Brook doctor out of his own pocket, and simply put in more mileage on his company expense account to cover what he was paying Greenspan. At 32 cents per mile, it was a long drive to make up the difference.

Blood money

By 2005, Nicoll was again looking for a change after learning that the owner of a struggling clinical testing lab in East Orange was facing serious financial issues and was seeking a buyer. Nicoll had no experience running a lab. The extent of his knowledge was not much more than a brief trip to the North Carolina lab for training.

"I saw the lab. But, I was there for maybe a week," he shrugged.

David Nicoll, a former nurse and one-time pharma rep who operated Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services. (Trish Tyson | Record file photo)

Still, he was keen on the idea.

Nicoll said he convinced his wealthy father-in-law to lend him $1 million for a 20 percent stake in the business. He got his younger brother, Scott, a ticket broker who dealt in high-demand sports and concert tickets and sold them on the secondary markets, to join him as a salesman.

And there were five doctors he already had relationships with from his time as a drug rep who he said had agreed to use the blood lab if Nicoll would pay them rent for office space where the lab could station a phlebotomist to draw blood--a practice then legal.

In New Jersey, a clinical lab was permitted to rent space from a physician at "market rates" to provide blood drawing services for patients. It was a gray area. The lab could pay for space, but it couldn't specifically rent space in exchange for blood without being in violation of the federal anti-kickback statute.

The anti-kickback law is pretty straightforward, noted David M. Frankford, an expert in bioethics and health care law and a professor at the Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research. The statute prohibits paying for patients, to ensure that clinical decision-making is free from corruption. There could be no quid pro quo. Period.

"The guts of the fraud laws are no remuneration for referral," said Frankford.

Robert Michel, editor-in-chief of The Dark Report, a newsletter that closely follows the medical and clinical lab industry, said because it's simple to send out blood samples, some lab operators have come up with creative ways to lure physicians.

"If you are being paid on the basis of the number of tests, you have created the inducement to order more tests," Michel said.

Doctors were offered bogus rent payments to send blood to Biodiagnostic. (Pixabay | stock photo)

Biodiagnostic's offer to rent space in doctors' offices was not unique to the blood lab. Nicoll said the five doctors he approached had agreements with other labs.

Although there was a clause in the lease that stated any payment was not being made with the expectation of blood, he left no doubt that it was only a legal subterfuge to make it appear all legitimate. Nicoll said he wouldn't have paid the physicians rent unless the lab was getting something in exchange.

There were other incentives as well.

"We paid for, you know, tickets to sporting events, dinners, stuff like that," he said.

"Did you provide cash?" he was asked in court.

"Not at that time."

"Prostitutes?"

"Just with one physician I remember."

Changing the rules

Biodiagnostic, unlike well-established clinical labs like Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp, had no contractual relationships with most of the health insurance carriers. Nicoll, however, learned he could still make money out of network by using the right diagnostic codes--and even more by inflating his prices.

There was no suggestion that Biodiagnostics was not properly testing blood or performing substandard analysis. The fraud was on the insurance companies that reimbursed Nicoll, according to prosecutors. But while no patients were harmed in the scheme, doctors were pushed to order more blood tests if they wanted to keep getting paid.

"I have been telling mds n off(ice) managers daily and that I will get the whip out! Told them again today that they HAVE to be very aggressive!" Santangelo texted Nicoll when the lab owner complained about the lack of blood tests being ordered and, in particular, the absence of lipos and allergy tests, which were particularly remunerative blood tests for Biodiagnostic, according to the documents examined by NJ Advance Media.

A pediatrician texted to proclaim he was "the number one prescriber" for one particularly lucrative allergy test on his young patients.

On average, Biodiagnostic was conducting 450 blood tests per day. Sometimes as much as 600, according to Scott Nicoll, who was also called to testify in trials earlier this year.

"We usually made about $1 million a month," Nicoll said.

Scott Nicoll, a former ticket broker who joined his older brother at Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services. (Trish Tyson | Record file photo)

That was your gross profit? A million a month, Scott Nicoll was asked.

"About," he said. "Yeah."

They were raking in so much money, in fact, that the blood lab's billing soon raised alarms at Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. The company declined to comment on the case. However, Megan McCarthy, a lead investigator for Horizon who was then manager of its special investigations unit, was a witness during the trial of Greenspan and related the complaints the company had started getting about Biodiagnostic two years after the lab had been taken over by David Nicoll.

She testified the bills were excessive for what they were doing. "They were billing for a lot of tests. I noticed for one date there might have been 25 blood tests billed on one day," McCarthy said.

Horizon went to court. In a lawsuit filed in state Superior Court in 2009, the health giant sought an injunction and damages, while seeking to recover more than $14 million it had paid out. Biodiagnostic was accused of "massive fraud," including misrepresenting its actual charges, double-billing, paying medical practices for referrals, and offering to waive patients of responsibility for any deductibles.

How the fraud worked: 

Santangelo, the doctor seeking a new BMW who had been billing a great many tests through Biodiagnostic, was specifically named in the lawsuit, along with dozens of unknown "John Doe" physicians.

Also made part of the litigation were Nicoll's father-in-law and Susan Nicolls, his wife, over their partial ownership stake of the lab. Attorneys for both declined comment.

The litigation sent shockwaves through the company and the doctors in its network. In a frantic text to Nicoll, Santangelo reached out to Nicoll to warn him that Horizon was at his office, according to court filings.

"U need to call me bcbs in here!" Santangelo texted, referring to Blue Cross Blue Shield.

"Tell them to [expletive] off. We aren't doing anything wrong," Nicoll replied. "Tell them to make an appointment to see you!"

"They wanted your fee schedule patients complaining Your fees outrageous. They asked me if u pay rent," Santangelo said.

Nicoll opted reluctantly to settle the case. "We wrote off $14.2 million in claims that we had outstanding with Horizon. And we also paid them an additional $3 million," he later testified.

Despite the settlement, though, there was growing pressure on Biodiagnostic. In 2010, New Jersey abruptly banned the practice of renting office space from doctors by clinical labs--a blow that Nicoll feared even more than the Horizon lawsuit. He said he was convinced he would be unable to do business without some kind of incentive to physicians.

"We weren't able to pay doctors to send us blood anymore," he said.

A new game

The new rules left him with few options. But if Nicoll couldn't pay doctors outright, there was way to pay them under the table through a scheme no more legal than rent payments. Nicoll directed members of his sales team to form several limited liability companies to pay doctors as "consultants." It was another scam.

"They were just a vehicle for us to pay the physicians. They didn't really do anything. There was only one source of financing from the lab and they basically were set up to pay consultant fees to the physicians," Nicoll said during his testimony.

Nicoll's first cousin, Craig Nordman, a former security alarm installer with no medical training, was behind Advantech, one of the shell companies.

According to Nicoll, Advantech wasn't real. It was just a device with no obvious connection to Biodiagnostic, which would allow him to pay his doctors the same bribes they were getting before the rent payments were disallowed. The lab would pay the LLCs, which in turn would pay off the doctors in consulting fees.

Nordman, who admitted he had bribed 14 physicians, said he would also set up Christmas parties for medical practices.

"Most of the things that I did was to continue to keep the relationship, or to continue the blood flowing into the lab," he explained in his own testimony about his role in the scheme.

He recalled paying for a $1,994 Christmas party for Greenspan and his staff at the Capital Grille in Paramus. It was a relatively cheap investment for the return on blood that would be delivered to Biodiagnostic.

Bernard Greenspan, returning to court in June for sentencing after he was convicted of accepting more than $200,000 in bribes. (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

"The amount of money that we would spend on the Christmas party wouldn't come close to the amount of money that we would make," he said.

How much money? According to Nordman, the lab made $1,000 for an in-depth cholesterol screening known as an NMR cardio profile.

As Nicoll continued ramping up his operation, some of his doctors began asking for more and more, according to court records. In previously confidential sentencing memoranda that attorneys for NJ Advance Media petitioned to get released, federal prosecutors outlined some of the demands.

A federal sentencing memo, which is not routinely made public in New Jersey, outlines the facts of a case as well as the involvement and history of a criminal defendant in recommendations by the defense and prosecution to a judge prior to sentencing.

Prosecutors said Santangelo by then was receiving $50,000 a month and asked for an $87,000 loan to help pay for a $100,000 BMW he coveted.

"I have budgeted to pay... 50,000+ a month that is the max I can go," Nicoll texted.

"You know my situation," replied the doctor.

Nicoll was incredulous. "Giving you 50,000 is not enough? Are you serious?"

Santangelo pressed Nicoll for more and more money. (NJ Advance Media illustration)

For others, there were dinners at what has been called the best steakhouse in New York, nestled somewhat incongruously inside one of the city's most exclusive strip clubs on the far West Side in Manhattan. It was a place where filet mignon, aged porterhouse and expensive scotch on the balcony above compete for attention with lap dancers and topless young women gyrating on the stage, down a red carpeted stairway below.

Brothers Nicholas and George Roussis, who had Staten Island medical practices and had gone to school together, were among those he hosted there. They were not shy about their enthusiasm for the outings.

"Yo Yo Yo. Whats going on brothers r we having steak on Thursday or what Got to celebrate our anniversary bitches. HaHa" texted Nicholas Roussis, a 48-year-old obstetrician, to Scott Nicoll just days before one get-together in October 2011, according to the sentencing memoranda obtained by NJ Advance Media. It turned out to be a $14,000 evening, said prosecutors. Neither doctor picked up the tab.

It was not the only dinner they had there, and the steak was just part of the payoff. Nicoll arranged for sex acts as well, according to court filings.

George Roussis, a pediatrician, bragged to Scott Nicoll in another text that he was the number one prescriber for ImmunoCap, a costly allergy test.

"Something like 250 panels a month," he texted.

One physician received $3,300 a month, as well as hard-to-get concert tickets, including five tickets to see Justin Bieber. (Chad Batka | New York Times file photo)

Bret Ostrager, a family practice physician on Long Island, was not only getting paid $3,300 a month, but was also given tickets to take his son to his first New York Mets baseball game. Scott Nicoll also supplied him with tickets for Katy Perry, and five tickets purchased for $1,875 to see Justin Bieber at Madison Square Garden.

Scott Nicoll through his attorney, Timothy M. Donohue of West Orange, declined comment.

All this time, David Nicoll was spending tens of thousands on himself as well. There were more cars, which he kept in a hanger-like warehouse, said a former associate. And more trips, once again mostly on chartered jets, often to the Caribbean. The Turks and Caicos. The Bahamas, St. Barts, Antigua, St. Martin, and St. Thomas.

"Pretty much all of them," he said.

He also purchased a $670,000 condo on 42^nd Street in midtown New York for "a girl I was with at the time," he said almost offhandedly, before being pressed for further explanation.

"You mean as a girlfriend?" he was asked.

"Well, it started off more as a paid for services and then it developed into where I paid her monthly to be my girlfriend, I guess," he replied.

Not long after that, he separated from his wife. And bought himself a $1.5 million house in Mountain Lakes.

The Feds move in

While Nicoll might have thought his settlement of the lawsuit brought by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield had ended the matter, the case actually was only the beginning of his problems.

According to a source with knowledge of the investigation, Megan McCarthy's report eventually made its way into the hands of the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office, kicking off a four-year investigation that would involve four federal investigative agencies, including the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services and the IRS, as well as more than a dozen agents, and several assistant U.S. attorneys who began to review of thousands of financial records.

Several doctors received visits from federal agents within months of the Horizon lawsuit, and a number of Biodiagnostic salespeople--even several doctors--began talking, and ultimately agreed to secretly cooperate with authorities. Some wore wires to record their conversations that would implicate others, including Peter Deplas, a Long Island doctor who would later admit taking $120,000 in bribes.

The big break in the case, though, came after Frank Santangelo made the mistake of breaking up with his girlfriend.

Santangelo, who had a practice in Wayne, had a long history with Biodiagnostic. Over time, the lab funneled nearly $1.9 million in bribes which government prosecutors later said had generated some $6 million in revenue to Nicoll's operation.

According to the government sentencing memo obtained by NJ Advance Media, Santangelo was effectively the "in house physician" to the lab. In one exchange of texts, Nicoll asked Santangelo if he cared whether they submitted an insurance diagnostic code of 780.79 on the billing claim forms submitted for insurance reimbursement.

"don't know what that code is," texted the doctor.

Nicoll said it was for weakness and fatigue.

"[i]f that helps u! Though I try to put as many codes as I can," Santangelo responded.

Yet the physician apparently made even Nicoll uneasy, said prosecutors. Santangelo has since acknowledged he had a drinking problem and in early 2013, his medical license in New Jersey was suspended because of alcoholism. He persuaded another doctor who had his own personal problems and had admitted himself to a psychiatric treatment facility to allow Santangelo to bill under his name, according to the sentencing memo.

"[y]ou are crazy. That guy is in a psych ward and you are billing under him?" Nicoll texted.

The message, and other incriminating texts proved not only to be Santangelo's undoing, but the nail in the coffin for Biodiagnostic. The doctor had given his old iPhone to his girlfriend. After an angry break-up, she discovered his texts to Nicoll and took the phone to the Hanover Township police, according to the government's sentencing memo.

"I had them in the palm (of) my hand until that [expletive] stole my Phone," he complained to Nicoll after learning what she did.

According to prosecutors, Santangelo later threatened the woman's life, telling Nicoll: "We were clear and free if it wasn't for her."

Prosecutors in the memo said the girlfriend went to police after reading the text and others after a disagreement over money Santangelo had asked her "to hold in her own name during the physician's divorce proceedings from his wife."

How the messages got in the hands of BCBS was not explained, but eventually they landed at the U.S. Attorney's office.

In the early morning hours of April 9, 2013, the FBI came to knock on David Nicoll's door with a warrant for his arrest.

Aftermath

Nicoll, his brother Scott, and Craig Nordman were charged together in the initial criminal complaint, along with Santangelo. The complaint, which did not identify any other physicians by name, only hinted at the extent of the scheme, with references that used the initials of those who had been paid off as well, but had not yet been charged. Only the names of two sales executives who had agreed to cooperate early on were included, giving Nicoll some warning of just how much the U.S. Attorney's office already knew.

"I still wonder whether we found them all," said former U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, who green-lighted the Biodiagnostic investigation. (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Days later, with both Nicoll brothers and their cousin out on bail, Nordman said the three all met at the home of Nicoll's sister. They went outside in the yard to talk.

"It was just Dave, Scott and myself," Nordman recounted, in testimony during the Greenspan trial. He said the brothers thanked him for not cooperating. And talked about making their stories consistent. And to protect certain doctors. One, they thought, was "mobbed up," and he said they feared retaliation.

Not long after, all three men pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate.

Since then, the charges, pleas and sentences have come at a breathtaking clip. In the past four years, 36 doctors have pleaded guilty and two have been convicted. A dozen former sales people have admitted their guilt as well, including Nicoll's brother-in-law and his cousin.

In court, the trio of federal prosecutors who handled the cases--assistant U.S. attorneys Joseph N. Minish, Danielle Alfonzo Walsman, and Jacob T. Elberg, who heads the office's Health Care and Government Fraud Unit--have repeatedly rejected suggestions that physicians were caught up in a system where giveaways from medical suppliers were the norm.

Paul Fishman, the former U.S. Attorney, said the Biodiagnostic investigation exposed a corner of the medical industry where patient care can be compromised by a doctor's loyalty.

"When you go to a doctor, you have a right to expect that he is not going to be influenced by anything other than his expertise and concern for your welfare," he said.

As for others who may have been bribed, but never charged, Fishman said bringing a criminal case always hinges on whether prosecutors have sufficient evidence to convict beyond a reasonable doubt.

"From time to time, and more often than people would like, the government gets credible evidence that someone committed a crime, but not sufficient evidence that allows them to be prosecuted," he said.

U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler. (Amanda Brown | Star-Ledger file photo)

Most of those caught up in the scheme have trudged into the third-floor ornate courtroom of U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler. The former federal prosecutor has made it clear at many of their sentencing hearings that he wanted to send a message that "there is nothing about this conduct that is acceptable."

While a few physicians who cooperated with prosecutors have received probation, Chesler has sent many to prison for three years or more, saying there are "enough problem with medical costs in this country" without the problem of medical kickbacks being paid to physicians.

"The Nicolls were simply businessmen. As the record reflects, totally corrupt businessmen," Chesler noted at the sentencing of the Roussis brothers, who both pleaded guilty. But he added that there were doctors "more than eager" to take the benefits offered them. And that there was a critical difference between Biodiagnostic and the doctors.

"The doctors took an oath," declared Chesler. "They had a place in society where people could trust them."

George Roussis, 47, the pediatrician who bragged about the number of allergy blood tests he ordered on his young patients, was sentenced to 37 months and is now at the federal prison at Lewisburg, Pa. His older brother Nicholas, 49, is at the same prison and will serve two years. Attorneys for both did not respond to requests for comment.

The judge told Ostrager, the physician who pushed the blood lab to provide tickets to Justin Bieber and Katy Perry concerts, along with thousands in payments each month, that he, too, forgot the oath he had taken.

"It wasn't an oath to make as much money as I can. It was to serve your patients as well as you could," said Chesler, in imposing a 37-month sentence.

Bret Ostrager, 52, is at the prison in Otisville, N.Y. He did not respond to a letter from a reporter seeking comment.

Frank Santangelo, 48, pleaded guilty and is serving a five-year term at the federal prison camp at Fort Dix. Contacted in prison, Santangelo had initially agreed to an interview, but later had a change of heart after administrators would not permit a face-to-face meeting with a reporter and would only approve a conference call. 

Bernard Greenspan was convicted at trial and was sentenced by U.S. District Judge William H. Walls to more than three years for taking approximately $200,000 in bribes. Now 80, he's at a prison medical center in North Carolina. His attorneys did not respond to repeated calls and emails seeking comment.

Craig Nordman, 39, the cousin of Nicoll who testified in the Greenspan trial and pleaded guilty to conspiracy and money laundering, is awaiting sentencing. His attorney did not respond to requests for comment.

There are no more trials scheduled, although the U.S. Attorney's office has not said if anyone else will be charged. A spokesman declined comment.

David Nicoll, the mastermind behind Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services, will not be sentenced until all the cases are concluded. He has yet to face Chesler.

Today he is living with a friend, doing construction work, said his attorney. He is also a compliance officer for an online school and is creating an interactive web class for an SAT prep course.

Nicoll's prized car collection is gone, auctioned off by the U.S. Marshals Service. Other possessions have been seized in forfeiture as well. He is out of the big home in Mountain Lakes and his New Jersey nursing license has been revoked. Biodiagnostic Labs is shut down.

Facing 20 years for money laundering and five years for conspiracy to bribe, Nicoll hopes to get less time in prison as a result of his extensive cooperation with prosecutors.

But he is realistic.

"Are you going to jail?" Nicoll was asked during his testimony.

"Yes, sir, I am," he said.

Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

The Irvington man was killed outside his home, authorities confirm.

A 29-year-old man was shot and killed in an apparent robbery outside his Irvington home late Monday night, authorities said.

Marcos Angamarca-Yupa was shot near his Grove Street home at about 11 p.m., Essex County Prosecutor's Office spokeswoman Katherine Carter said.

"It appears to be a robbery," she said.

Few other details of the shooting were immediately available. Angamarca-Yupa's family members told NBC his wife and 8-year-old child were present when he was approached by two men who demanded money and eventually shot him.

The killing comes about two weeks after a woman was killed outside her nearby Newark home during an apparent carjacking. Three people have been arrested in that Thanksgiving Day shooting.

Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Take a look at the Player, Coach and Team of the Year in every conference.

GIRLS SOCCER SEASON IN REVIEW, 2017

• Erin Keefe of Ridge is the NJ.com Player of the Year

• Wall is the NJ.com Team of the Year

• Kim Maurer of Allentown is the NJ.com Coach of the Year

ALL-STATE TEAMS

• All-State 1st, 2nd and 3rd teams

• All-Group 4

• All-Group 3

• All-Group 2

• All-Group 1

• All-Non-Public

FINAL RANKINGS

• The NJ.com Top 50

• Group and conference rankings

CONFERENCE REVIEWS

• Claudia Dipasupil of Northern Highlands is the Big North Conference Player of the Year

• Hailey Gutowski of Cinnaminson is the Burlington County Scholastic League Player of the Year

• Gabi Johnson of Oakcrest is the Cape-Atlantic League Player of the Year

• Sophia Schwab of Haddonfield is the Colonial Conference Player of the Year

• Gianna Pittaro of Steinert is the Colonial Valley Conference Player of the Year

• Lauren Krinsky of East Brunswick is the Greater Middlesex Conference Player of the Year

• Skyler Matusz of Kearny is the Hudson County Interscholastic Athletic League Player of the Year

• Claire Perez of Park Ridge is the North Jersey Interscholastic Conference Player of the Year

• Kayleigh Furth of Newton is the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference Player of the Year

• Jordynn Stallard of Washington Township is the Olympic Conference Player of the Year

• Jada and Jasmine Colbert of Freehold Township are the Shore Conference Players of the Year

• Erin Keefe of Ridge is the Skyland Conference Player of the Year

• Natalie Nevins of West Orange is the Super Essex Conference Player of the Year

• Annie Sanker of Pitman is the Tri-County Conference Player of the Year

• Grace Elliott of Westfield is the Union County Conference Player of the Year

Brandon Gould may be reached at bgould@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrandonGouldHS. Like NJ.com HS sports on Facebook.

The state's best cream donuts? We visit two contenders in our latest N.J.'s best bakery installment.

An 18-year-old and a 14-year-old are charged with murder in the death of community activist Shuri Henry, 40, of Newark Watch video

In a brief but emotional hearing Tuesday morning, an 18-year-old Newark youth was ordered held in the fatal carjacking of a community activist in front of her Newark home on Thanksgiving night.

With his mother sitting in the courtroom, Supreme A. Allah of Newark was ordered to remain held at the Essex County Correctional Facility on charges of murder, felony murder, robbery, carjacking, weapons offenses, and conspiracy to commit murder in the Nov. 23rd incident. Superior Court Judge Nancy Sivilli ordered him held following a detention hearing Tuesday morning in Newark.

Authorities say the carjacking occurred at about 11 p.m. as 40-year-old Shuri Henry was returning to her South 20th Street home from Thanksgiving dinner with her young nephew. Henry was shot and her 2015 Kia Sorrento was taken, authorities said. Henry was pronounced dead minutes later at University Hospital.

Family members of the victim were also present for the hearing, though they left the courthouse immediately afterward. Allah's tearful mother, Pamela Robinson, lingered in the hallway after the hearing, and spoke briefly to NJ Advance Media. 

"He didn't do nothing," Robinson said through sobs. "He's a good kid. He don't get in trouble. He just got wrapped up in something he shouldn't have got involved in."

A 14-year-old boy faces similar charges in Henry's shooting death. Authorities have not released the name of the boy because of his age. He was not in court Tuesday. He is being held at the Essex County Youth Detention Facility, Katherine Carter, a spokeswoman for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, said.

Carter could not immediately say whether her office would seek to have the boy waved up to adult court. 

Authorities said a third person was arrested with Allah and his young co-defendant. Antonio L. Torres, 20, of Newark, is charged with eluding police and is also being held at the Essex County jail.

According to authorities, the day after the fatal carjacking Newark police saw Henry's car being driven near Springfield Avenue and Jacobs Street. The driver refused to stop, and Allah, Torres and the 14-year-old were caught after a short pursuit, authorities said.

Carter said a detention hearing for Torres had been scheduled for Wednesday, though there was a chance it would be rescheduled.

The investigation was continuing, Carter said.

Tuesday's hearing lasted less than two minutes, after Allah was led into the courtroom in handcuffs and a plaid shirt and other civilian clothes that his mother had taken to the hearing for him change into from prison garb.

His public defender, John McMahon, did not contest the request by Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Naanzeen Khan to keep Allah behind bars pending presentation of the case to a grand jury.

"Not at this point," McMahon said after the hearing.

Henry had been planning a community meeting for Nov. 30 to gather ideas about improving the quality of life in her neighborhood, according to Lyndon Brown, a party district leader who was helping plan the event with Henry.

Henry worked on Governor-elect Phil Murphy's campaign, and served as secretary of the alumni association of the local Boys & Girl's Clubs, where she had been planning an reunion for March, Brown said.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka had spoken publicly about the case immediately after the incident.

"I just want to say, we're on the family's side," Baraka said at the time. "And by the grace of god, we're going to bring some closure to you in this holiday season."

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Find out who landed on 1st, 2nd and 3rd Team All-State.

He also faces two counts of resisting arrest.

JERSEY CITY -- A 19-year-old man is facing drug charges after running away from police in West New York over the weekend, authorities said. 

Police said they saw a "suspicious" group at 66th Street and Broadway just after 1 a.m. Saturday and when Carlos J. Martinez, of Belleville Avenue in Belleville, saw the officers, he broke from the group and walked away, according to a criminal complaint.

While patrolling later at 65th Street and Dewey Avenue, the officers spotted a man fitting the description of the man they had seen earlier. But when they approached him, he ran away, according to the complaint.

All available units responded to the area and Martinez was arrested and found to have capsules of ecstasy on him, the complaint alleges.

Martinez was charged with two counts of resisting arrest, possession of suspected ecstasy and possession with intent to distribute near a school and near public property.

Martinez made his first court appearance on the charges Monday 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 him through the course of his prosecution. A detention hearing is scheduled for Thursday.  

Michael Knight, 39, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault as part of a plea deal

A Newark man has admitted to severely beating a Rutgers student and trying to rape her last year, authorities said. 

Michael P. Knight, 39 Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office 

Michael Knight, 39, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault Tuesday in exchange for a 22-year prison sentence as part of a plea deal, Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew Carey said in a release.

Knight turned himself in after authorities released his mugshot announcing charges in the May 2016 incident in New Brunswick.

Authorities originally charged Knight with aggravated assault, attempted aggravated assault, aggravated sexual contact, kidnapping, making terroristic threats and endangering an injured victim. 

Knight will have to serve 85 percent of his sentence before being eligible for parole, according to the release. He will also have to serve a lifetime on probation and register under Megan's Law.

Superior Court Judge Joseph A. Paone will sentence Knight on March 5, 2018.    

Craig McCarthy may be reached at 732-372-2078 or at CMcCarthy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @createcraig and on Facebook here. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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The man was killed during an apparent robbery, authorities said. Watch video

The family of a father whose small family watched him be fatally shot during an apparent robbery outside his Irvington apartment Monday night is devastated, according to their landlord.

"I can't imagine how they feel about it now... when they've lost (him)," Pedro Qubzada told reporters of 29-year-old Marco Angamarca-Yupa, who authorities say was shot and killed in an apparent robbery Monday night. Witnesses said the man was killed as his wife and 8-year-old son watched.

"The child, he saw everything happen. It's hard," the landlord said shortly before lighting candles in the man's memory.

Man was killed outside this Irvington apartment building Monday night, authorities said. (Taylor Tiamoyo Harris | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
 

Qubzada, who said he's been renting an apartment to the family for three or four years, described Angamarca-Yupa as a good person.

"I can tell you in two words, he was a good man," he said. "He was a very good guy."

The landlord, who said Angamarca-Yupa was from Ecuador, told reporters in Spanish the security cameras outside the Grove Street apartment complex were not on Monday night.

A security guard who was on duty Monday night at a booth in the neighboring apartment complex said there is 24-hour-a-day security there, but declined to elaborate further on what he saw during the shooting.

A neighbor who declined to be identified said she was just getting home around the time of the shooting, 11 p.m., but didn't hear or see anything.

"This is the first we've heard about something like this in this area, this close to us," she said.

The Essex County Prosecutor's Office has released few details about the killing, but says it is continuing to investigate. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call 877-847-7432.

Staff reporter Karen Yi contributed to this report.

Taylor Tiamoyo Harris may be reached at tharris@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @ladytiamoyo.

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Some find the logo udder-ly distasteful. What do you think?

A new ice cream shop's controversial logo is forcing management to consider making its cartoon cow mascot "more fun and less sexy," a manager wrote in a Facebook post.

The newly opened Dairy Air Ice Cream Co., located at 521 Bloomfield Ave. in Montclair, began receiving complaints Monday after Amy Tingle, a local business owner in Montclair, wrote an open letter on Facebook to Dairy Air, asking them to reconsider the logo, of a "sexualized" female cartoon cow, and remove it from the storefront, packaging and elsewhere.

"It is offensive and sickening," Tingle wrote. "A hyper-sexualized, obviously female cow with her ass upended and poking through a circle, tail raised up, waiting for what? I'm not sure, but I do know that I am repulsed and offended."

Tingle wrote that the logo is not offensive to just women, but also men "who are trying to raise strong young women in a culture that continuously sexualizes them rather than treating them equally, with dignity and respect.

"Instead of making girls and women feel safe and authentic, we are made to feel - by ads and logos like yours - as if we are things for someone else's sexual use," she continued.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Tingle invited community members to her store, Creativity Caravan (28 S. Fullerton Ave.), Saturday at noon to further discuss the issue. She also said on Facebook that she spoke personally with Anthony Tortoriello, one of the owners of Dairy Air, and while they disagree on the nature of the logo, "he apologized for it and is willing to continue the dialogue together."

Attempts to reach Dairy Air management for comment were unsuccessful, though a manager responded to the complaints on Facebook, saying they planned to tone down the logo.

"We have heard the complaints," Natalie DeRosa, manager of Dairy Air in Montclair, wrote this week. "We take them very seriously and we are acting to change the cow to be more fun and less sexy. Our goal was always fun and not sexy."

Other community members took to Tingle's Facebook post to rail on Dairy Air, which is a play on the French word "derriere," meaning buttocks, and their newly minted logo.

"Totally disgusting and repulsive. Good for you for calling them out on it," Facebook user Tina Tierson wrote.

"Misguided branding that is shocking in this day and age!!," Leslie Billera wrote.

According to Montclair Local, Dairy Air is a liquid nitrogen ice cream shop that consists of a pun-filled menu.

The weekly newpaper said items inlcude: Backside Banana Split, Keister Key Lime and Coconut, Peanut Butt'r Booty, Oprah's Favorite Fanny, Backend Bourbon Blues, Bumm Rush, Sweet Cheeks and Chocolate, Devil's Derriere, Spankin' Strawberry Moon, Mexican Waffle Wedgie and the Muffin-Top Money Maker.

Joe Atmonavage may be reached at jatmonavage@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @jatmonavageNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook

Man rushed to University Hospital.

Police are searching for a man who shot an acquaintance and apparently stole his vehicle Tuesday afternoon in Newark's Central Ward, officials said.

The injured man suffered a non life-threatening gunshot wound and was taken to University Hospital after the shooting around 2:30 p.m. in the 100 block of South 4th Street, according to authorities.

The shooting came after an altercation involving the two men, according to Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose.

"At this early juncture of the investigation detectives are attempting to determine exactly what transpired between the victim and the suspect, who know one another," said Ambrose.

Police said the victim's 2016 Black Nissan Juke was stolen in the incident.

In a statement, Ambrose urged anyone with information to call Newark's 24-hour Crime Stopper tip line at 1-877-NWK-TIPS (1-877-695-8477) or 1-877-NWK-GUNS (1-877-695-4867).

Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc and on Facebook. 

Have information about this story or something else we should be covering? Tell us: nj.com/tips

Mars Wrigley announced its plan to relocate jobs to the state's largest city after N.J. approved big tax breaks last month

The chocolate company behind M&M's, Snickers, and Twix, is officially expanding in New Jersey.

Mars Wrigley Confectionary announced Tuesday its decision to open its U.S. headquarters in the Garden State. The HQ will have two locations, one in Mars' existing offices in Hackettstown, and another in a new space in Newark, the company said. The move that will bring about 500 jobs to the Brick City.

The announcement comes a few weeks after the state approved a 10-year, $31 million tax enticement for the company.

The new Newark location should be up and running by July 2020, the candy giant said.

Mars Wrigley has said it plans to move 113 jobs from Chicago and 370 jobs from Hackettstown to Newark. The Hackettstown location will retain about 1,000 jobs, the company said.

The company's international headquarters will remain in Chicago, Mars said.

Though it is unclear how many of the Jersey jobs will be new, local hires and how many will be transplants to N.J., the company said in its announcement it was "committed" to helping employees through the transition.

"Expanding in New Jersey will enable the continued growth of our U.S. business," said Berta de Pablos Barbier, Mars' president.

"Creating U.S. offices in New Jersey will allow us to keep driving growth, while also positioning us to retain and attract the future talent needed for our continued success."

The company has not said where in Newark it will be located, but sources reportedly told ROI-New Jersey the headquarters would be located in the Ironside Newark -- a 456,000-square-foot commercial and retail center currently being renovated.

U.S. Sen, Cory Booker issued a statement Tuesday saying he was "thrilled" with the company's decision to build in the state's largest city.

"Newark's highly-educated workforce, robust transportation network, and central location will no doubt help the Mars U.S. Market Headquarters thrive. This decision means hundreds of local jobs returning to Newark, a boost to our regional economy and small businesses, and the opportunity to continue the biggest economic boom in Newark since the 1960's," Booker said.

The move is a return for Mars, which was located in Newark from 1941 through 1958, when it moved to Hackettstown seeking more space.

The officer needed stitches to his face

An Irvington man employed by a contractor at Newark Liberty International Airport was arrested Saturday after allegedly assaulting a customs officer, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said in a statement.

Thomas Hodge, 22, who works for Air Serve, was trying to leave a jetway at an airport gate in Terminal C around 7 p.m. when he was stopped by the officer, who asked for identification. Hodge allegedly cursed the officer and then punched him, cutting open his cheek. The officer required eight stitches, the Port Authority said.

Hodge has been charged with aggravated assault, resisting arrest and obstruction of the administration of law. 

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

The number of people calling in seeking help since the news of Harvey Weinstein broke has increased in New Jersey.

The requests keep coming.

Over the past two months, the Burlington County office that helps sexual assault victims has received an unprecedented amount of calls, sometimes in the middle of the night, from people wanting accompaniment to the hospital, according to the director.

"It's been really crazy here," said Jillian Allen, director of CONTACT, the program in Burlington County, adding that for a while her office couldn't keep enough advocates out in the community to keep up with all the requests.

The flood of new cases has forced the local advocacy group to fast-track training for anyone willing to volunteer to accompany victims.

"We need all the help we can get," Allen said.

From the beginning of October, when the New York Times dropped its bombshell report on media mogul Harvey Weinstein, through the beginning of November, Allen said her office received, on average, one call a day from someone needing accompaniment. That's triple the amount of calls they usually receive during the same time frame, Allen said.

The surge in the number of people calling the hotline in Burlington is mirrored in towns and cities across the state. At least five other counties in New Jersey, including Bergen, Essex, Monmouth, Salem and Warren counties, said they have seen significant increases in the number of people asking for psychological support or accompaniment to the hospital, court or hospital.

The fact that the uptick locally is happening amidst a a wave of sexual assault allegations across the country against high-profile men in the media and entertainment industries as well as on Capitol Hill is not a coincidence, say crisis counselors.

"Real-life survivors are sharing their stories. And what that creates is an opportunity for others to feel a sense of community and safety," said Patricia Teffenhart, the executive director of the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault, the statewide organizer of sexual assault programs.

However, the uptick in calls and reports does not necessarily mean there have been more assaults, Allen said, it could just mean that more and more people are comfortable coming forward and asking for all kinds of help.

"Typically, we don't see the powerful white male being accused and being held accountable," Allen said. "That definitely contributed to some of the people coming forward."

Advocates say it's not the first time media attention to a high-profile case has had an impact on the ground. They saw a similar uptick after the allegations against Bill Cosby became public.

"The surge of calls is not unusual after a high-profile case," said Helen Archontou, the executive officer of YWCA Bergen County, an office that oversees a sexual assault resource center. "Then there is usually a drop off because the world moves on. In this case, we are seeing people continue to come forward."

And although more people are seeking out advocacy groups to report sexual assault, many of the allegations may never make get to law enforcement officials, because sexual assault is still one of the most under-reported crimes in the U.S.

Tell us your experiences

Backlash against women telling their stories of sexual assault often intimidates women from officially filing a report with the police, said Archontou.

"We're already seeing some of this backlash from recent news," she said. "But hopefully through education we can fight against it." 

Even if an individual decides to report to law enforcement, many cases never end up in the court room, Teffenhart said. Those that do are always difficult to prosecute, Teffanhart said, pointing to the case of Brock Turner, the former Stanford University student found guilty in March 2016 of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman on campus.

Turner was convicted, but sentenced to only six months in county jail with three years' probation. The former college student is now appealing his conviction.

Advocates like Allen, Teffenhart and Archontou are a few of the dozens of people who have been working in New Jersey to not only help victims of sexual assault, but to educate the local population for years.

For advocates, the recent media attention on men such as Hollywood's Weinstein, NBC's Matt Lauer and Alabama politician Roy Moore is welcomed because it has encouraged others in their communities to come forward seeking help.

But, they said, it is also a reminder that not much has changed over the years. They have been fighting against sexual assault for decades.

"These are numbers that reflect a problem we always knew was there," said Jill Zinckgraf, the executive director of Warren County's program. "And I look at these numbers and I think, things are just the same."

One aspect that has changed, they say, is that the youth population seems to better understand the issue and how to seek help or report to law enforcement, and improvement advocates attribute to their outreach in local schools.

Christine Ferro, the executive director of SAVE, the sexual assault services program in Essex said an analysis of her office's numbers shows more teenagers seeking services.

Despite the recent attention to the issue, advocates say the education needs to continue. Although advocates have been trying to educate New Jersey communities about sexual assault, 

"We are often not understood or believed when we report these kinds of statistics," Teffenhart said.

"The most important thing is we need to begin by believing women," she said. "Our society looks at a person who identifies as a survivor and publicly and skeptically asks 'what's in it for them'? But I assure you no one wants to become famous by identifying as a sexual assault survivor."

If you or a member of your family is a victim of sexual assault and would like to seek services, you can reach out to your local advocacy program via their hotline. The statewide hotline is 800 - 601 - 7200. 

Erin Banco may be reached at ebanco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @ErinBanco. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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