South Jersey Man Pleads Guilty to Concealing Information About Kidnapping from the FBI

CAMDEN, NJ—A Camden County man today admitted concealing from law enforcement authorities information about a home invasion and kidnapping that led to the death of an Atlantic City woman, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Ronnie Ruffin, 43, of Lindenwold, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez in Camden federal court to in information charging him with one count of misprison of a felony.

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

Ronnie Ruffin was arrested October 18, 2011. Prior to his arrest, he had learned that on March 26, 2011, Nadirah Ruffin (no relation) was the victim of a home invasion and was kidnapped from Atlantic City, New Jersey. Ronnie Ruffin also learned Nadirah Ruffin was driven to Philadelphia, shot, and killed. Her body was found in the Schuylkill River on April 19, 2011. Ronnie Ruffin admitted that before his arrest that he had learned the home invasion and kidnapping of Nadirah Ruffin were orchestrated to retaliate for an assault on another individual.

After Ronnie Ruffin was arrested, he gave a statement to an FBI special agent and a Atlantic City Police Department detective in which he concealed and failed to immediately make known that he knew the identities of the individuals involved in the home invasion and kidnapping.

The charges to which Ronnie Ruffin pleaded guilty carry a maximum potential penalty of three years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Sentencing is scheduled for January 10, 2013.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward; investigators from the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Prosecutor James P. McClain; and detectives from the Atlantic City Police Department, under the direction of Deputy Chief Ernest Jubilee, Commander of the Atlantic City Police Department, for the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jason M. Richardson and Matthew T. Smith of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.

Atlantic City Man Pleads Guilty to Bank Robbery

CAMDEN, NJ—An Atlantic County, New Jersey man today admitted robbing Wells Fargo Bank in Atlantic City and Sun National Bank in Ventnor, New Jersey, on January 12, 2012, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Larry Patrick Kearns, 45, of Landisville, New Jersey, pleaded guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Simandle in Camden federal court to an information charging him with two counts of bank robbery.

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

On January 12, 2012, Kearns entered a Wells Fargo Bank in Atlantic City, approached a bank teller, threatened her, and demanded money from her. The bank teller complied with Kearns’ demand, and Kearns fled the bank with the money. Kearns traveled to Margate and stole a car, which he used in the robbery of the Sun National Bank in Ventnor that same day. Again, Kearns approached a bank teller, threatened her, and demanded money from her. The bank teller complied, and Kearns fled the bank with the money in the stolen car. While fleeing from the robbery, Kearns crashed the stolen car into a tree and was apprehended by police.

The charges to which Kearns pleaded guilty are each punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Sentencing is scheduled for November 20, 2012.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of special agent in charge Michael B. Ward in Newark, as well as the Atlantic City Police Department, the Ventnor Police Department, the Margate Police Department, and the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office for their work leading to today’s guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Diana Carrig of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.

Law Enforcement Hunting Bank Robber Seen in Atlantic City Casino

NEWARK, NJ—The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Atlantic City Police Department are seeking the public's assistance to identify and locate the subject responsible for the robbery of the TD Bank, 15 North Pennsylvania Avenue, Atlantic City, N.J., on Thursday March 3, 2011. Though the robbery occurred in the Atlantic City area, law enforcement is not ruling out the possibility that the robber could reside anywhere between and including New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and possibly Delaware.

At approximately 6:55 p.m., the subject entered the bank and presented a threatening demand note to a teller. After obtaining an undisclosed amount of cash, the subject fled the area of the bank on foot. The subject is described to be a white male in his 60s, 5'8" to 5'10" tall with a medium build, clean shaven, wearing a dark in color jogging jacket and pants which had white stripes, a gray hooded sweatshirt underneath the jacket, and brown Merrill sport sneakers with red socks.

An investigation by agents and detectives revealed that, subsequent to the robbery, the subject was a patron at one of the city's casinos. With the assistance of that casino's surveillance department, additional images of the subject were obtained.

The FBI offers rewards for information leading to the capture of bank robbers and other FBI fugitives. The subject is considered armed and dangerous. No citizen should ever attempt to apprehend a fugitive on his or her own. In an emergency, please dial 911. Citizens are encouraged to review bandittrackernortheast.com to view photos and updates to bank robbery cases. To report tips, please contact the FBI at 973-792-3000 or the Atlantic City Police Department Detective Bureau at 609-347-5766.

Narc tales and corruption

Police-Writers.com, a website dedicated to listing state and local police officers who have authored books, has added four police officers whose true stories of undercover narcotics work, near-corruption and outright corruption provide a trip into big city police work of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Jack Kelly probably knew more about narcotics trafficking in America than any other person. From the time he joined Atlantic City Police Department at the end of World War II to his retirement from one of the highest enforcement positions in the United States Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, Kelly spent his life in pursuit of the world’s largest, most cunning, and dangerous illicit drug suppliers. Along the way, he earned a reputation from peddlers and junkies, as well as federal and local law enforcement officials, as "the toughest narc of them all."

According to the book description, “On the Street is Jack Kelly's story. It is also the story of drugs in America and of the people who become enmeshed in its widespread, complex network. As Kelly unfolds the story of his career, we learn what makes a good cop-and a bad one. He discloses in considerable detail the psychology of developing informers and of keeping them; how suspects used to be-and are-interrogated; and how evidence is handled. He shows how a set-up is arranged and an arrest made, and he tells what it's like to work undercover, as he did for much of his career, on numerous occasions almost losing his cover-and his life.

Kelly is brutally frank. He tells not only of informers who, after being loaned money by agents to set up a purchase, run off with the loot, but also of policemen who, finding large quantities of cash at the site of an arrest, report only a small portion of it and pocket the rest. He narrates with compassion the story of the elderly medical doctor who gave heroin to his junkie patients because he truly couldn't stand to see anyone suffer. And he tells in sorrow of the narcotics agents who became junkies themselves.”

Stephen Del Corso and Bill Erwin were narcotics detectives in the New York Police Department. They co-authored the true story, Blue Domino. According to the book description, “Blue Domino is a cop's-eye view of a narcotics case so big and so successful that it resulted in the conviction of 86 major heroin dealers. It is also the story of the "Lady in Pink," a beautiful Puerto Rican drug courier who turned out to be the key to the case. And it is the story of the biggest bribe ever offered a detective in the history of the New York Police Department.”

Edward F. Droge of the New York Police Department authored two novels, In the Highest Tradition and The Honor Legion, and his own autobiography - Patrolman: A Cop's Story. According to the book description, “Edward F. Droge, Jr. made headlines with his testimony about police corruption before the Knapp Commission in New York. Now he has decided to tell the whole blunt, hard-nosed truth about himself and the system that made him and broke him. This is the story of his career from the beginning to the end. It is the story of fighting crime in the savage ghettos, of collaring hookers on the nighttime streets, of breaking up murderous family quarrels and risking his life and limb in hair-raising chases and gun duels. It is also the story of pocketing money and bending regulations and losing every ideal. And finally it is the story of how one cop's undercover activities implicated his fellow officers.”

Police-Writers.com now hosts 346 police officers (representing 145 police departments) and their 777 books in six categories, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors, international police officers who have written books and civilian police personnel who have written books.