Most Wanted Fugitive Captured in Argentina

Most Wanted Fugitive Captured in Argentina

Former police chief is sentenced to 17 years

Published: Saturday, February 05, 2011, 7:00 AM Updated: Saturday, February 05, 2011, 8:28 AM
By Lisa Coryell/The Times


BORDENTOWN CITY — Calling former Bordentown City Police Chief Phil Castagna unremorseful for soliciting a hit man to kill his ex-wife, a judge Friday sentenced him to 17 years in prison.

Burlington County Superior Court Judge Jeanne Covert said she sentenced the 48-year-old Castagna to the harsh sentence — just three years shy of the 20-year-maximum and well above the 10-year minimum — in part because she believes he is at risk to commit another crime.

“Despite his conviction (for conspiracy to commit murder) Mr. Castagna refuses to accept responsibility for and shows no remorse for the seriousness of his actions,” she said.

Clad in an orange prisoner’s jumpsuit with the words “God is my judge” inked across the back in small letters, Castagna showed no reaction to his sentence.

“Phil we love you. We’re going to get you out of this,” his sister Claire Lindsey yelled to Castagna as a sheriff’s officer led him from the courtroom in handcuffs.

Under the terms of his sentence Castagna must serve 85 percent of his sentence — more than 14 years — before becoming eligible for parole. Covert also sentenced Castagna to a concurrent sentence of 15 months in prison for violating a 2003 permanent restraining order prohibiting any contact with his ex-wife Joyce Leopold.

“Phil Castagna devised a sinister scheme to murder his ex-wife using someone he believed not only could be manipulated, but also would be discredited if details of the plot were divulged,” Burlington County Prosecutor D. Bernardi said in a press release Friday. “He has been disgraced by his actions, which would have been tragic had the bungled plan been successful. Fortunately the jury accepted the corroborating evidence presented by the state, and the sentencing court has brought the weight of the law down on him with this prison term.” Defense attorney Robert Leiner declined to comment on the sentence.

In October a jury found Castagna guilty of soliciting an ex-con buddy to kill Leopold. It was the second trial for the former top cop whose first trial ended in a hung jury in 2009. The buddy, Gary Hall, who had done time for aggravated assault, notified the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office about the request. Hall agreed to wear a wire to tape conversations he had with Castagna and those tapes figured prominently during both trials.

Leopold, who had asked Covert to sentence Castagna to the maximum 20 years, said she was satisfied with the sentence. “Justice was served,” she said as she left the courtroom surrounded by friends and family. “They heard me crying for justice.”
Speaking to the court, Leopold said that learning her ex had tried to have her killed was devastating to her and her daughter from her first marriage. They fear strange noises, unfamiliar cars and have nightmares, she said.

Prosecutors said Castagna was furious with Leopold because she filed domestic abuse charges against him and he lost his police chief job when he was convicted in 2004. That conviction was overturned on appeal in 2006 but by then he’d been charged in the attempt on her life.

She told the court Castagna believed he was above the law. “It is Phil’s own self-serving manipulation and deceit that has culminated in him being found guilty of conspiracy to murder me,” she said. “This very act of creating a plot to commit murder is a culmination of years of threats and acts of domestic violence.” Castagna’s friends and family asked the judge for leniency, citing his otherwise clean record, his military service, his stellar law enforcement career and his community service.

“I ask your honor to weigh and credit these accomplishments against the crime he now stands convicted of; a crime of words, not action, spoken in a moment of weakness at a time so vulnerable,” said Mark Yelen, a longtime friend.
Lindsey refused to believe her brother is guilty of any crime.

“My brother is innocent,” she said as she left the courtroom. “We look forward to the appeal process and are confident he will be vindicated. His family and friends are standing by him 100 percent. We are a strong team.”

Castagna, who had been suspended without pay from his job in Bordentown City while the case against him was pending, was ordered to vacate his job upon conviction last fall.


© 2011 NJ.com. All rights reserved.

Suspended NJ State Police detective sergeant indicted

Published: Friday, February 04, 2011, 3:40 PM Updated: Friday, February 04, 2011, 3:51 PM

By Tom Quigley | The Express-Times

A New Jersey State Police detective sergeant from Blairstown Township was indicted today.
A Blairstown Township man who is suspended from his job as a New Jersey State Police detective sergeant was indicted today by a state grand jury, the Attorney General's Office reports.

James A. DeLorenzo, 54, a 28-year veteran with the state police, faces an eight-count indictment linked to allegations that include working as an insurance company detective during his working hours with the state police.

He is charged with four counts of second-degree official misconduct and one count each of second-degree pattern of official misconduct, second-degree computer theft, third-degree theft by deception and third-degree tampering with public records or information.

The indictment includes allegations that DeLorenzo performed work for the private insurance company such as witness interviews, telephone calls and document pickups, during his state police shift.

DeLorenzo in August filed a lawsuit against state police alleging he was suspended in retaliation for blowing the whistle on wasteful practices.
© 2011 lehighvalleylive.com. All rights reserved.

So you really want to be a cop?

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. --

The slaying of two police officers as they helped serve a warrant stunned a state already mourning police deaths in Miami and capped a bloody 24 hours nationwide that saw 11 officers shot in five states.

"That's not normal," said Steven Groeninger, a spokesman for the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, which tracks police deaths. "It kind of seems like law enforcement, because of their uniform, have a target on their back."

So far in January, 14 officers have been killed in the line of duty. Two of the 11 shot between Sunday and Monday have died.

They were St. Petersburg Police Sgt. Thomas Baitinger and Officer Jeffrey Yaslowitz, gunned down Monday while helping other officers serve a warrant on a man with a long criminal history.

Shortly before 7 a.m., a U.S. marshal, a Pinellas County deputy and an undercover St. Petersburg detective went to a home to arrest Hydra Lacy Jr., 39, on an aggravated battery charge. When they learned he was in the attic with a weapon, they summoned backup.

Officials said Yaslowitz, who was just getting off his night shift, and Baitinger responded.

Twenty-two minutes later, gunfire broke out.

When it was over, Baitinger and Yaslowitz were dead and Lacy - the brother of Jeff Lacy, former International Boxing Federation super middleweight champion - lay dead as well, either by his own hand or police bullets. A U.S. marshal whose name was not released was shot twice but was doing fine, Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Tom Figmik said.

Officials said Lacy had a long record, with convictions for armed robbery and sexual battery. He was listed with the state as a sex offender and had failed to register with authorities in December as required.

Deputies had been seeking him since.

"In my mind as a police officer, this crook, this criminal, this murderer, cop-killer, whatever you would like to call him, did a terrible injustice to two of my people today and two of the people that served this community," Police Chief Chuck Harmon said during an afternoon news conference.

The officers' deaths came just four days after two Miami-Dade County detectives were killed by a murder suspect they were trying to arrest. That suspect was killed by another detective.

Those officers were remembered Monday at a funeral where news of the St. Petersburg shootings added to the grief already palpable among the thousands gathered at AmericanAirlines Arena in downtown Miami.

The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund said the 14 January deaths came after a "devastating spike" in law enforcement deaths last year, when 162 officers were killed in the line of duty, up from 117 in 2009. Of the 162 officers, 61 were shot, an increase of 24 percent from 2009.

"I have never seen anything like it," Memorial Fund Chairman and CEO Craig W. Floyd said in a news release. "The violent events of the past 24 hours in Florida, Michigan, Indiana, Oregon and Washington have been detrimental to America's peace officers, taking the lives of two and injuring several others. We must do everything in our power to stop these senseless and heinous crimes against our law enforcement personnel."

On Sunday, a man opened fire inside a Detroit police precinct, wounding four officers including a commander before he was shot and killed by police. The officers' injuries were not considered life-threatening, Police Chief Ralph Godbee said.

Also on Sunday, two sheriff's deputies in Washington state were shot at a Walmart while responding to a call reporting a suspicious person, according to the memorial group. Police officers in both Indianapolis and Lincoln City, Ore., were critically injured in shootings during traffic stops.

DNA to the rescue.

DALLAS -A Texas man had his conviction overturned Tuesday for a rape and robbery he didn't commit after serving 30 years in prison, more time than any other inmate subsequently exonerated by DNA evidence in his state.

Cornelius Dupree Jr., 51, was formally cleared of the aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon conviction that had kept him behind bars from December 1979 until July of 2010. He served 30 years of his 75-year sentence before making parole in July. About a week later, DNA test results came back proving his innocence.

"It's a joy to be free again," Dupree said after the ruling in a Dallas courtroom.

Dupree is the longest-serving inmate cleared by DNA evidence in Texas, which has freed 41 wrongly convicted inmates through DNA since 2001 — more than any other state.

Nationally, only two others who have been exonerated by DNA evidence spent more time in prison, according to the Innocence Project, a New York-based legal center representing Dupree that specializes in wrongful conviction cases. James Bain was wrongly imprisoned for 35 years in Florida, and Lawrence McKinney spent more than 31 years in a Tennessee prison.

The DNA testing in Dupree's case also excluded a second defendant, Anthony Massingill, who was subsequently convicted in another sexual assault case and sentenced to life in prison. Massingill remains in prison but maintains his innocence. DNA testing in that second case is ongoing.

Sitting on the courtroom benches were at least six other Texas men wrongly imprisoned but later cleared by either DNA testing or other means. The men have made a habit of showing up together every time a new man is declared innocent.

Dupree was charged in 1979 with raping and robbing a 26-year-old woman. He was sentenced a year later to 75 years in prison for aggravated robbery. He was never tried on the rape charge.

According to court documents, the woman and her male companion stopped at a Dallas liquor store in November 1979 to buy cigarettes and use a payphone. As they returned to their car, two men, at least one of whom was armed, forced their way into the vehicle and ordered them to drive. They also demanded money from the two victims.

The men eventually ordered the car to the side of the road and forced the male driver out of the car. The woman attempted to flee but was pulled back inside.

The perpetrators drove the woman to a nearby park, where they raped her at gunpoint. They debated killing her but eventually let her live, keeping her rabbit-fur coat and her driver's license and warning her they would kill her if she reported the assault to police. The victim ran to the nearest highway and collapsed unconscious by the side of the road, where she was discovered.

Dupree and Massingill were arrested in December because they looked similar to two suspects being sought in another sexual assault and robbery. The 26-year-old woman picked both men out of a photo array, but her male companion did not identify either defendant in the same photo array.

Dupree was convicted and spent the next three decades appealing. The Court of Criminal Appeals turned him down three times.

Will this really protect us?

MILLBURN – If you were shopping at the Mall at Short Hills on Wednesday, Dec. 1 and wondered about the heavy police presence, you were in the minority.
As a contingent of approximately 30 NJ State Police, Millburn Police and other law enforcement officials walked through the mall most shoppers just took it in stride. The few that came up and asked what was going on were given a handout from the State Police asking for the public’s help in identifying threats to security.

Sgt. Steve McDonough, left, and Trooper I Fernando Torres patrol the Mall at Short Hills on Dec. 1 as part of a campaign to encourage shoppers to report any suspicious activity.

According to a spokesperson for the State Police, patrols go out throughout the state several times a month, concentrating on high traffic areas such as malls and train stations as a proactive attempt to deter crime and to let the public know that their help is needed in reporting suspicious activity.

The State Police have set up a 24-hour toll-free tip line for the public to report tips or information about suspicious activity or behavior that might possibly be related to terrorism. That number is 1-866-4-SAFE-NJ (1-866-472-3365).

Deviant behavior or who really cares?

Edward O'Neil, a retired New Jersey State Police major, left his loaded handgun unattended in an unlocked Cadillac Escalade as he sought sexual favors at an Interstate 78 rest area in Hunterdon County, according to a state police report.

A retired New Jersey State Police major left a loaded handgun unattended in his unlocked vehicle as he sought sexual favors last month at an Interstate 78 rest area in Bethlehem Township, Hunterdon County, according to a state police report.

The vehicle and gun belonged to Edward M. O’Neil III, 53, of Ridge Road, Harmony Township, who retired in 2006 and now heads Camelot Security Associates LLC, the Belvidere firm that provides security for the Phillipsburg School District.

No charges have been filed.

Troopers returned the gun to O’Neil after they found him Oct. 29 in the sleeper cab of a tractor-trailer also parked at the rest area, according to the report obtained by The Express-Times through an open public records request.

The Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating whether any weapon violations occurred. The office’s chief of detectives, Dan Hurley, said a decision is likely later this week.

“Other than that, we were not involved in this matter and did not respond to it,” Hurley said.
O’Neil’s attorney Friday night denied “any claim, rumor or innuendo of any improper or unlawful conduct” by the retired major, who headed an intelligence unit for state police and coordinated New Jersey’s 9/11 response.

State police Acting Maj. Gerald Lewis said the prosecutor’s office is reviewing the incident.

According to the report, a trooper approached a white Cadillac Escalade at the rest area 8 miles east of Easton shortly after 7 p.m. after noticing it parked there for 30 to 40 minutes.

The report released by state police had names redacted; a separate copy obtained by the newspaper was complete.

Looking in the vehicle, a trooper spotted a holstered semiautomatic handgun in the opened center console, the report said.

The trooper entered the Escalade and retrieved the gun. Inside, the trooper also found O'Neil's wallet, state police retirement badge and some clothing — slacks, shoes and socks scattered in the back, according to the report. The trooper secured the gun in his patrol vehicle “after retrieving and making the weapon safe,” according to the report. A law enforcement source confirmed the gun was loaded.

The trooper called for assistance from other troopers to check on O’Neil’s well-being and encountered a trucker whose tractor-trailer was parked behind the Escalade, the report shows.

While initially uncooperative, the trucker told troopers O’Neil had approached his rig that night and asked him for sexual favors, the report states. The driver, who is from New York and whose name is being withheld by The Express-Times because he is not the subject of an investigation, told troopers he complied with O’Neil’s request and allowed him into the truck, according to the police report.

Troopers found O’Neil covered with a blanket in the sleeping compartment; he put on shorts, a jacket and sneakers before getting out of the rig, the report says.

O’Neil told troopers he pulled into the rest area in Bethlehem Township, N.J., to urinate and began conversing with the truck driver, according to the report. He said the driver invited him into the cab to continue the conversation out of the cool weather.

O’Neil did not return phone messages Friday and no one answered at the Harmony Township home that property records show is owned by Edward and Joan O’Neil.

At Camelot Security Associates on Hardwick Street, Belvidere, a man who answered the door Friday said O’Neil was unavailable.

His attorney, Washington-based Leonard Artigliere, issued a statement Friday night.
“We have not had the opportunity to review, investigate or even read the report alluded to,” Artigliere said. “It would therefore be inappropriate to comment.

“The career, honor, reputation and integrity of Mr. O’Neil speaks for itself with a strength beyond words. However, to be absolutely clear, any claim, rumor or innuendo of any improper or unlawful conduct is denied. Any such claims will be dealt with in the appropriate fashion.”
O’Neil had a leadership role in New Jersey’s terrorist attack response.

O’Neil worked for the New Jersey State Police for 25 years. He was the commanding officer of the state police Intelligence Section, according to the Camelot Security Associates website; he was also the commander of the state police Emergency Management Section.

He earns a monthly pension of $7,314.71, according to The Star-Ledger newspaper.
According to the Camelot website, O’Neil was a lieutenant when he was assigned as the state coordinating officer for the World Trade Center disaster on Sept. 11, 2001.

He served as on-scene commander at the Forward Command Post established at Liberty State Park in Jersey City and coordinated New Jersey’s emergency response to the disaster, the website says.

In May, the Phillipsburg School District hired O’Neil’s private security firm for one year to patrol school campuses and events such as football games. The $375,000 contract expires in July. Its approval led to the laying off of 14 security guards who had been district employees.

Phillipsburg schools Superintendent Mark B. Miller said Friday he would discuss the incident report — in particular the handgun left abandoned — with district attorneys and the school board to determine any potential ramifications on the contract.
“I’m concerned about the safety of my kids at the schools,” he said Friday. “Since this is the first time I’m hearing this, I have to contact the district’s legal counsel.”

Miller said O’Neil, as owner of the security firm, visits the schools occasionally. O’Neil has a security director on site, Miller said.
“I have a concern and that concern has to be addressed,” he said. “I have to find out what the next step has to be.”

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