Here's the stories you'll be talking about on the New Jersey 101.5 Morning Show.

🔗 Marlboro man, 41, admits to New Year’s Day killing of mother’s partner

⚠️ Carl Richards admitted beating George Mott III to death on New Year’s Day 2024.
➡️ Mott was the longtime partner of Richards’ mother and lived with the family in Marlboro.
🔴 Prosecutors will seek 30 years in state prison when Richards is sentenced Nov. 17.

MARLBORO — A 41-year-old township man has admitted to the 2024 New Year’s Day killing of a 64-year-old victim in the house where they both lived.

Carl A. Richards was initially arrested and charged with first-degree aggravated manslaughter in the beating death of George L. Mott III.

That’s ultimately the charge that the 41-year-old Richards pleaded guilty to before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Marc C. Lemieux, during a Wednesday hearing.

Mott was the longtime partner of Richards’ own mother, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond Santiago said.

Following the woman’s death in 2022, Richards and his family moved into the Texas Road home, alongside Mott.

Richards’ own children were inside the home in the Morganville section during the deadly encounter before 1 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2024.

🔗 NJ woman accused in Philly cop 'murder-for-hire' faces new charge

⚠️ A 28-year-old Runnemede woman now faces two federal murder-for-hire charges.
➡️ Prosecutors say she used Tinder and her cellphone to find a would-be hitman.
🔴 If convicted federally, she faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

A 28-year-old Camden County woman is facing a new federal charge for hiring a hitman to kill a Philadelphia police officer she dated and his 19-year-old daughter.

Jaclyn D. Diiorio, of Runnemede, was first arrested last year and charged with attempted murder. Prosecutors said Diiorio found the would-be hitman on Tinder.

Because she used a cell phone to carry out the plot across state lines, she now faces two counts of “using interstate commerce facilities in the commission of a murder-for-hire,” U.S. Attorney David Metcalf said.

Diiorio made her initial appearance in Philadelphia federal court Thursday afternoon and was being held in federal custody, pending a detention hearing on Sept.14.

In April 2025, Diiorio was arrested in a Glendora parking lot inside her Honda Civic.
Investigators said she had just flashed $500 cash as a downpayment to “off” her 57-year-old ex and his teen.

The purported killer she had connected with on the popular dating app a few days earlier was actually a confidential police informant, according to an affidavit filed by investigators.

🔗 Stolen postal keys helped NJ men pull off $670K check scheme

📮 Two North Jersey men pleaded guilty after a scheme caused more than $670,000 in losses.
📮 Prosecutors say they used stolen USPS keys to “fish” checks from collection boxes.
📮 They then sold or altered the checks to fraudulently obtain money from financial institutions.

Two North Jersey men have admitted to a check-washing scheme that caused more than $670,000 in losses.

On Wednesday, Leslie Blackwood, 25, of Irvington pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal checks from the mail in federal court in Newark. Blackwood's plea comes two months after co-conspirator Verly Antenor, 24, of Roselle Park pleaded guilty to the same crime.

Each man faces up to five years in prison. Blackwood is scheduled to be sentenced in February, while Antenor's sentencing is scheduled for December.

Blackwood and Antenor worked the mail scheme between September 2021 and March 2022, according to U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer. They used stolen arrow keys to access post office boxes in Livingston and Clifton and steal checks, which they called "fishing." They called the stolen checks "food,” “grub,” or “slips.”

After they fished the grub out of the post office boxes, Blackwood and Antenor sold or altered the checks in a process called washing. Washing checks involves erasing the date, amount, memo, and recipient, then replacing that information so the washers can put a greater amount and give it to themselves.

🔗 Man charged with DUI wrong way on NJ road with 3 kids in car

🚨 Police say a New York man was driving the wrong way on Route 46 in Fairfield with three children in his SUV.
🍺 Officers allegedly found multiple open beer cans after the driver said he had consumed only two beers.
⚖️ Miguel Nocelo-Soto faces a child endangerment charge and multiple traffic summonses. His court appearance is Oct. 13.

FAIRFIELD — A wrong-way driver from New York is charged with driving drunk with three children in the car in Essex County.

It happened on August 30 at approximately 2 a.m. The Fairfield Police Department said an officer was patrolling Route 46 East near the McDonald's when he allegedly saw a black Dodge Durango driving westbound in the eastbound lanes.

The officer pulled the driver, identified as Miguel Nocelo-Soto, 33, of Bronx, NY, over, and when he approached him, the cop noticed Nocelo-Soto had bloodshot, watery eyes.

Three juveniles, ages 17, 12, and 1, were in the back seat, police said.

Nocelo-Soto told the officer he only had two beers.

But he was unable to complete the standardized field sobriety test when asked to step out of the vehicle, police said.

The officer also found one unopened can of beer in the door panel and multiple open cans of beer inside, as well.

🔗 What people in NJ heard on 9/11 as they listened to New Jersey 101.5

It's the question everyone will ask and answer: Where were you when the planes hit? Where were you on 9/11?

Jim Gearhart remembers well. The veteran broadcaster was on New Jersey 101.5's airwaves, discussing school fundraisers with a caller. Alongside him were news anchor Eric Scott and the rest of the morning crew. Opinions and news and laughs. It was a regular, routine day.

And then it wasn't.

"I could see by (Eric Scott's) face there was something not usual here," Jim remembers.

Click the link to hear the real time broadcast from 9/11 from 25 years ago.

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You can reach him at eric.scott@townsquaremedia.com

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