A child is dead, found in a torched vehicle near a New Jersey high school, and a man is charged with arson, authorities said Friday.
Cops initially received a 911 call about a fire near Sayreville High School around 10:45 p.m. Thursday. As they were responding, another call came in reporting a related domestic dispute. Police responded to Eisenhower Drive, where they encountered a woman who said a domestic dispute led to Manuel Rivera, 43, leaving the home with their son.
Authorities found Rivera alive, but with burns to his body and a self-inflicted wound at Washington Road, near the back of Sayreville High School, officials say. Next to him was a vehicle on fire; it had been doused in gasoline.
Rivera was taken to a hospital for treatment of his injuries. A preliminary investigation revealed the body of a child in the burned-out vehicle. Prosecutors haven’t definitively identified the body as that of the 9-year-old at this time.
Rivera has been charged with second-degree aggravated arson. Additional charges are pending to autopsy report from the Middlesex County medical examiner’s office. Anyone with information is asked to call the Sayreville Police Department at 732-727-444 or the Middlesex County prosecutor’s office at 732-745-3289.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Rivera had an attorney who could comment on the arson allegation.
WASHINGTON — Now charged with 18 federal counts, embattled Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., faces a mounting pressure campaign from his colleagues in Congress.
Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., will announce legislation Friday that would prohibit people charged with certain crimes from receiving classified information, implicitly targeting Menendez, who was charged with bribery, conspiring with foreign governments and other counts.
If approved by Congress, the bill — titled the Guarding the United States Against Reckless Disclosures Act, or GUARD Act for short — would apply to any federal official or candidate charged with compromising U.S. national security, acting as a foreign agent, obstructing an official proceeding or unlawfully retaining classified national defense information, according to a copy first shared with NBC News.
The bill could also apply to former President Donald Trump. In addition to members of Congress, Sherrill’s legislation would cover the president, the vice president, candidates for federal office who receive classified information, members of the military and employees of the Transportation Security Administration and the U.S. Postal Service.
Trump, who has been charged with mishandling classified information and with obstructing Congress’ certification of the 2020 presidential election results, will soon begin to receive intelligence briefings, as is customary for presidential nominees to ensure a smooth transition of power.It’s one of the reasons Sherrill is introducing the legislation now.
“We have a former president who has shown a long history of disclosing secrets to adversaries, trying to hide and destroy information, not being clear on what he’s held and is now under indictment for these infractions,” Sherrill said in an interview Wednesday. “And yet our intelligence community is supposed to start briefing him?
“This legislation seeks to remedy that and make sure that people who are under indictment cannot have access to state secrets,” she added.
Trump and Menendez have pleaded not guilty, and neither has yet gone to trial. But Sherrill, a former federal prosecutor and Navy pilot, believes neither man should have access to classified information in the meantime.
Sherrill called on Menendez to resign hours after he was initially indicted in September and accused of taking lavish gifts in exchange for using his influence as the chair of the powerful Foreign Relations Committee at the time.
Menendez stepped down as chair in the fall but has rejected calls to resign from Congress from more than half of his Democratic Senate colleagues and the entire New Jersey House delegation, except for his son, Democratic Rep. Robert Menendez Jr.
“It has long been a concern of mine about keeping access to classified information from people who seem willing to give away state secrets or undermine our national security,” Sherrill said. “So of course when Menendez was charged with acting as a foreign agent — how someone like that could have access to classified information when he has already misused it in such a powerful position is mind-boggling to me.”
Her bill would allow majority votes in the House and the Senate to override it and allow access to sensitive information case by case.
Menendez’s most vocal critic, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., introduced his own resolution to strip him of his committee assignments and ban him from receiving classified information after he continued to attend briefings on sensitive national security matters. But that legislation hasn’t gone anywhere. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., described Menendez’s legal woes as “serious allegations” but has declined to call on him to step down.
Sherrill said she didn’t discuss her effort with Fetterman.
Despite growing criticism and increased scrutiny, Menendez announced this month that he would run for re-election as an independent if he is exonerated. He is scheduled to go on trial in May, and the independent filing deadline is June 4.
“At a time like this, when we have a former president like Trump trying to call into question a lot of the institutions of our government, a lot of our values, it’s very important that we have leaders in office that people can have faith in,” Sherrill said.
“I don’t think you can argue that anyone can have faith in Menendez, who has used his office to enrich himself, who has put his interests, in a very Trump-like way, quite frankly, ahead of the interests of the nation,” she said.
Mega Millions winning ticket sold in New Jersey – CBS News
Watch CBS News
One lucky person in New Jersey has won more than $1 billion dollars from the 8th largest Mega Millions drawing. Dan Geltrude, the founder of the Geltrude & Company accounting firm, joins CBS News with more on the prize.
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez won’t run in Democratic primary
New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez won’t run in Democratic primary
00:29
New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy on Sunday suspended her run for U.S. Senate, days after embattled Sen. Bob Menendez announced he would not be running as a Democrat.
Murphy made the announcement on X.
“I have been genuine and factual throughout, but it is clear to me that continuing in this race will involve waging a very divisive and negative campaign, which I am not willing to do,” Murphy said.
Murphy threw her hat into the ring in November to replace embattled Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, who announced Thursday that he would not be seeking the nomination as a Democrat while he battles federal corruption charges. But he left the door open to running as an independent, saying “hopeful that my exoneration will take place this summer and allow me to pursue my candidacy.”
Murphy dropping out of the race clears the path for Rep. Andy Kim to win the Democratic nomination.
With her race for Senate over, Murphy said she’ll be using her time to focus on getting President Biden reelected and ensuring victories for Democrats in New Jersey.
“With Donald Trump on the ballot and so much at stake for our nation, I will not, in good conscience, waste resources tearing down a fellow Democrat,” she said.
This is a breaking story. It will be updated.
Aliza Chasan
Aliza Chasan is a digital producer at 60 Minutes and CBSNews.com. She has previously written for outlets including PIX11 News, The New York Daily News, Inside Edition and DNAinfo. Aliza covers trending news, often focusing on crime and politics.
New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy announced Sunday that she’ll withdraw from the Democratic Senate primary, likely paving the way for Democratic Rep. Andy Kim to secure the nomination.
“After many busy invigorating, and yes, challenging months, I am suspending my Senate campaign today,” Murphy said in a video posted to social media.
“I’ve been genuine and factual throughout,” she continued. “But it is clear to me that continuing in this race will involve waging a very divisive and negative campaign, which I am not willing to do.”
“I’m making this decision because this campaign has never been about me. And right now, I know the best thing we can do for New Jersey is to unite and focus on the real issues at hand,” she added.
Murphy and Kim both launched their campaigns for Senate in November, seeking to replace Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, who along with his wife faces federal charges for allegedly obstructing justice and taking bribes.
The first indicted was announced in September, and they have since faced additional charges, bringing the total to 18. Both have denied any wrongdoing.
Menendez has not officially announced whether he’ll run for re-election, but he’s teased running as an independent, saying, “I am hopeful that my exoneration will take place this summer and allow me to pursue my candidacy as an independent Democrat in the general election.”
A New Jersey dad drowned Wednesday while rescuing his three children who became “distressed” while swimming in the Millstone River, according to local police.
Rolando Camarillo-Cholula, 42, drowned after pulling his three children — ages 13, 11 and 8 — to shallow waters. The children were swimming in a 39-mile-long tributary of the Raritan River, according to the Franklin Township Police.
The call to police came in just before 2:15 p.m., when someone reported “a man in the water, with three children on shore” of Canal Road between Coppermine and Old Georgetown roads in Franklin Township, about 43 miles southwest of New York City.
When police arrived at the scene, they found the kids on the shore but could not find Camarillo-Cholula, according to the information released by Franklin Township Police, which added that the father lost his balance after he waded into the waters in a bid to help his kids.
Divers from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office recovered Camarillo-Cholula a little over three hours later, just before 5:30 p.m., police said.
Emergency rescue crews pulled the body Rolando Camarillo-Cholula out from a New Jersey canal on Wednesday evening after responding to a distress call.NBC 4
Emergency medical personnel treated the children at the scene, according to police. An investigation into what led to the incident is underway, police said.
This comes as at least the third reported fatal drowning in New Jersey in the past three months. In May, a 15-year-old boy drowned at Sandy Hook Beach B, an unguarded area where swimming is not allowed. In June, New York City firefighter Mark Batista, 39, of Teaneck, New Jersey, drowned at the Jersey Shore while trying to save his teenage daughter — who survived the incident — after she was caught in rough waters. Also in June, 18-year-old Victor Rodriguez died by drowned in a Pitman lake during a scavenger hunt.
In the wake of Camarillo-Cholula’s death, Franklin Township authorities urged locals to remember that “causeways, lakes, and all waterways can hide dangers like hidden currents, sudden depths, and cold shock,” and to look out for signs in the area of the incident indicating areas and activities to avoid.
Lieutenant Vincent Wilson of the Franklin Township Police Department said that swimming is not prohibited in the Millstone River.
Drowning is the leading cause of death for kids between the ages of 1 – 4, and men make up nearly 80% of people who die from drownings, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It can happen in seconds and often occurs silently, and can be prevented by wearing a life jacket, monitoring weather conditions before swimming in natural waters and learning basic swimming skills, the CDC says.
There are more than 4,000 fatal drownings per year nationwide, according to the CDC. New Jersey has one of the lower rates nationwide, with 0.77 unintentional drowning deaths per 100,000 people, CDC data shows.
New Jersey Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver, who was the first Black woman to serve as speaker of the state’s Assembly, has died. She was 71.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is making plans to come back from a vacation in Italy in light of her death, two people familiar with his plans tell CBS News. Murphy, who owns a home there, had been set to return on Aug. 13.
No cause of death was given. Murphy said he and his family are distraught at the news. Naming Oliver as his lieutenant governor was, he said in a statement, “the best decision I ever made.”
FILE – New Jersey Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver speaks during a news conference on Aug. 1, 2018, in Newark, N.J.
Julio Cortez / AP
Oliver was taken to Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey, on Monday, according to Murphy’s spokesperson, Mahen Gunaratna. Earlier Tuesday, Gunaratna said Oliver was receiving “medical care,” but declined to elaborate further.
Oliver had been acting as governor while Murphy is out of the country on vacation, but during her hospitalization, fellow Democrat and state Senate President Nicholas Scutari became acting governor.
Murphy lamented Oliver’s passing, calling her a “dear friend, colleague and partner in government.”
“When I selected her to be my running mate in 2017, Lieutenant Governor Oliver was already a trailblazer in every sense of the word,” Murphy said in his statement. “She had already made history as the first Black woman to serve as Speaker of the General Assembly, and just the second Black woman in the nation’s history to lead a house of a state legislature. I knew then that her decades of public service made her the ideal partner for me to lead the State of New Jersey. It was the best decision I ever made.”
Oliver’s family called her “our cherished daughter, sister, aunt, friend, and hero.”
“Sheila Y. Oliver leaves behind a legacy of dedication, service, and inspiration,” her family said in a statement released by Murphy’s office. “We will remember her commitment to the people of New Jersey and her tireless efforts to uplift the community.”
In 2010, Oliver became the first Black woman to serve as Assembly speaker. She served in the Assembly beginning in 2004 and was on the Essex County board of chosen freeholders from 1996 to 1999.
She had been struggling with ongoing health issues that she’d kept private, sources told CBS New York.
The Cotta family is large. Eight siblings, to be exact.
It went Jan, Robin, Brian, Doug, Tracy, Jay, Kevin, then Chris.
“We weren’t a very elaborate family. Didn’t have a lot of money,” Jay Cotta told Dateline. “But we all stuck together. We still do.”
Jay said the siblings have always been close and over the years have grown even closer. Together, they’ve been trying to figure out what happened to their eldest sibling, Jan.
She disappeared when they were all just kids — on the night of June 26, 1973.
Andrew and Dorothy Cotta raised their eight children in Wall Township, New Jersey. “It was the purest you could get,” Jay recalled. “It was all horse farms — farm living kind of things.”
In fact, the family lived on a horse farm. “We fought like normal kids,” Jan’s sister Robin Wilson told Dateline. “We grew up very happy, and we didn’t have much.”
To Jan, living on the horse farm was a dream. “She was a big horse person,” Jay remembered. “She rode a lot. She was in a lot of horse shows.”
But Jan was no ordinary equestrian. Jay said his sister was highly skilled. “She won several awards,” he said. “She was also a substitute for the equestrian team for the U.S. back in the day.”
Robin also recalled the love her sister had for horses. Jan “knew a lot of people through the horse association,” Robin said, adding that her sister “was just a typical teenage girl growing up, but she was more — mostly interested in her horses.”
On the night of June 26, 1973, Jan was in the family’s barn. “Me and the guy I was hanging out with — we heard noises at the barn like the horse was kicking something,” Jan’s brother Brian told Dateline. “So we walked up there and noticed that the light to the tack room was on.”
Brian said he and his friend went into the tack room and saw Jan sitting there. “I went back up to where my sister was and she asked me to leave because the guy she was seeing at the time pulled in,” he recalled. “And we left.”
That was the last time anyone saw 19-year-old Jan Cotta.
“I think it was my mother who within 24 hours made notification to the police department,” Jay Cotta said. “That’s when they came out and asked a bunch of questions.”
The Wall Township Police Department arrived at the scene.
Dateline spoke with Detective John Spinapont and Lieutenant Michael Seitz with the Wall Township Police Department.
Detective Spinapont told Dateline that at the time, “the whole property was searched. Nearby areas, friends’ houses, places she had visited,” and that “all of her equestrian friends and sites that she visited throughout the year” were also looked into.
According to Lt. Seitz, it was soon determined that Jan may have initially left on her own. “There was evidence that suggested that she had planned to leave the area,” he said. “I don’t know for how long, but there were steps that were discovered — or evidence that was discovered — that had indicated she was planning to go somewhere.”
One of the pieces of evidence was a note left in the tack room the night Jan vanished.
Jan’s siblings told Dateline that they vaguely recall what the note said. “I remember the letter,” sister Robin recalled. “It said, ‘It’s very sad to love someone and not be –.’” The rest of the sentence is lost to time.
“I do recall some of the stuff,” brother Jay said. “It made it sound like she was going to off herself. And it was a lot of apologetic issues involved with that, but nothing. No names. Nothing.”
While there weren’t any names mentioned, there was one thing in the letter that Jan’s family said they had no idea about prior to her disappearance. “I think we found out she was pregnant from the letter,” Jay said. “In 1972, that was frowned upon, right? So, I don’t know, she kept that hush-hush or decided not to tell anybody.”
Jay said he believes his sister’s case could go either way. “There’s two theories: One, either she was too embarrassed to say anything and decided to run away,” he said. Or “we believe the father-to-be was from a very affluent family up in Homedale and therefore they were embarrassed,” Jay said, and might know where Jan went.
Jay told Dateline he believes the father-to-be was Jan’s boyfriend at the time who Jan had told her brother Brian she was waiting for in the tack room the night she disappeared.
According to police, the boyfriend was looked into. “During the initial case it was believed to be an acquaintance — a boyfriend of hers,” Lt. Seitz told Dateline about the person who reportedly picked Jan up that night. “He was interviewed and denied being there, denied picking her up that night.”
The lieutenant said investigators also looked into the possibility of Jan being pregnant. “That lead was heavily exhausted and continues to be exhausted,” he said.
Foul play is not suspected in Jan’s disappearance. “All signs do kind of lead towards she left willingly,” Det. Spinapont said.
But the detective said that doesn’t mean they are giving up trying to find her. “We’ve been going through past data trying to find new ways and attempting to identify if she’s still alive,” he said. “If other people would cooperate and speak to us — and just see if [there’s] anything they [didn’t] remember at the time or do remember and forgot to tell us.”
Jan’s family told Dateline they don’t plan on giving up, either.
Andrew and Dorothy Cotta have both since died, the weight of losing their firstborn always on them. “It was just absolutely devastating,” Robin told Dateline. “My parents got divorced. As far as the kids were concerned, I don’t think it — other than emotionally, I don’t think it impacted us as far as relationships were concerned, but it had a toll on my parents.”
And while it’s too late for Jan’s parents, the siblings aren’t giving up looking for answers. “We’re not letting it go,” Jay said.
At the time of her disappearance, Jan was 5’4”, 118 lbs., and had brown hair and blue eyes. She was wearing Blue Land Lubbers jeans, a white shirt with a blue design, and brown loafers. She had a plain gold ring with the initials JAC and a gold ring with a blue topaz birthstone with two diamonds. She also had a round tweed purse.
Jan Cotta aged 67.
Jan would be 69 years old today.
Anyone with information about Jan’s disappearance is asked to call the Wall Township Police Department at 732-449-4500.
A New Jersey woman who posed as a doctor, treated patients and prescribed medications has been arrested, prosecutors in Ocean County said Thursday.
Toms River resident Maria F. Macburnie, 62, also known as Marife L. Macburnie, was charged with practicing medicine without a license, forgery, health care fraud, and distributing a dangerous substance, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.
The office building where the impersonation took place.Google Maps
Prosecutors allege Macburnie assumed the identity of a relative who they said is licensed to practice. The relative could not not be reached for comment, as online information about her appears to lead to a medical office authorities said Macburnie used.
“The office is permanently closed,” the automated phone greeting for Shore Medical Associates states.
Prosecutors said Macburnie had been using the relative’s name from March 2022 to June 2023.
The prosecutor’s office said Macburnie issued multiple prescriptions under the relative’s name, and submitted insurance claims and bills for services during times when the relative “was unable to see and treat patients.”
Prosecutors did not specify any medications she allegedly prescribed. Macburnie was arrested Wednesday, the prosecutor’s office said.
She was booked into an Ocean County Department of Corrections facility, the office said. It wasn’t clear if she has been released, and it wasn’t clear if she has legal counsel.
The local public defender’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Prosecutors asked that anyone who was seen or treated by Macburnie reach out.
Patients of the Toms River office allegedly used by Macburnie are told in its automated phone greeting to send an email to request their medical records.
The Drug Enforcement Administration, economic crimes unit of the prosecutor’s office and Toms River Township Police Department helped in the investigation, the prosecutor’s office said.
Toms River, a township on the Jersey Shore, is nearly 60 miles east of Philadelphia.
Dennis Romero
Dennis Romero is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
