Home Care In Toms River, NJ

Two New Jersey men admitted that they scammed a mortgage lender to obtain a $4.5 million loan by faking the sale of a property with forged and phony documents.

In addition, one of the men also admitted he lied to obtain a $1.8 million loan by lying on government loan applications during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mendel Deutsch, 39, of Toms River, pleaded guilty to one count of bank and wire fraud conspiracy as well as wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Jersey said.

Joshua Feldberger, 43, of Howell pleaded guilty to bank fraud conspiracy.

In an elaborate scheme, Arthur Spitzer worked with Deutsch and Feldberger to make it appear as if Spitzer owned three properties in Brooklyn, New York.

Deutsch applied and received a $4.5 million mortgage loan for the phony purchase.

Feldberger helped move the fraudulent sale along as the owner of the settlement company that handled the transaction.

Deutsch and Feldberger then forged letters claiming that Deutsch had deposited significant funds into escrow toward the transaction when in reality, he paid nothing, federal prosecutors said.

The pair then drew up more phony paperwork claiming they transferred control of the properties to Spitzer.

Meanwhile, the men falsely told the mortgage lender the settlement company had received more than $2 million from Deutsch at closing. That prompted the mortgage lender to fund the loan.

The pair then used the mortgage loan proceeds to fund Deutsch’s down payment — the same down payment he had claimed to already provide.

The mortgage lender is not named by prosecutors.

Charges against Spitzer are pending.

Spitzer, of Toms River, was charged with eight counts of wire fraud, one count of bank fraud, one count of bank and wire fraud conspiracy, two counts of aggravated identity theft, one count of lying to a bank and 12 counts of money laundering.

Feldberger is scheduled to be sentenced on February 23, 2026 with Deutsch sentencing set for March 16, 2026.

In a separate scam, Deutsch submitted Economic Injury Disaster Loans applications in 2020 and 2021 in which he fabricated the number of people he employed and how much revenue the business generated. He obtained about $1.8 million in loans.

During the pandemic, the government provided loans to small businesses to help keep them afloat.

TOMS RIVER — A once-in-a-lifetime stroke of luck has happened twice for an Ocean County couple.

Ocean County couple hits two NJ Lottery top prizes

The couple with two children and a third on the way are now multimillionaires, having won not one, but two top prizes in New Jersey Lottery scratch-off contests in the past six months.

On April 1 (no joke), the unidentified couple won the $1 million top prize in the $1,000,000 Ultimate Spectacular, purchased in Ocean County. The odds of winning the top prize in that $30 game are more than one in a million, NJ lottery officials said.

Second win: $3M ticket bought at Toms River gas station

Fast forward a few months. The same couple won $3 million in the Jackpot Millions Scratch-Off ticket contest. While we don't know where the couple is from, lottery officials said they purchased the winning ticket at the Fischer Bay Exxon in Toms River.

The odds of winning one of the three top prizes in this newly released $30 game are roughly one in two million.

NJ Lottery: Odds of double win are “astronomical”

The combined odds of winning both are about one in two trillion. To put it bluntly, lottery officials say a player would be 1.2 million times more likely to be hit by a meteorite.

“I’ve always said that you only need one ticket to win big. But I guess, in this case, two tickets certainly didn’t hurt. This is just pure blind luck,” said New Jersey Lottery Director James Carey.

New Jersey Lottery winners are legally allowed to remain anonymous. But the couple felt free to discuss how they play the lottery and how the double wins have helped their lives.

The Ocean County couple told NJ Lottery officials they have a 5-year-old, an 11-month-old, and are five months pregnant with baby number three, so they are in desperate need of downtime and entertainment.

“With our kids, we can’t really get out of the house,” the husband said. So, when the kids go to bed, he and his wife do scratch-off tickets. They like to make it a bit of a competition of who can win the most.

The husband started scratching, and he thought he might have won something, so he handed the card to his wife to check. She held it to her chest and started screaming that they won the $3 million prize.

The couple said the two huge prizes, totaling $4 million, will go a long way to take care of their growing family.

More big NJ Lottery winners in Camden, Essex counties

In other scratch-off-winning news, Camden and Essex County players had a fruitful week as well.

On Nov. 10, a $500,000 winning Lion’s Share ticket was sold at the Wawa at 464 Creek Road in Bellmawr, and on Nov. 14, a $600,000 Crossword Xtreme ticket was sold at Krauser’s at 1263 Broad Street in Bloomfield, NJ Lottery officials confirmed.

Toms River’s mayor is suing the school district where he worked for more than 20 years, claiming tenure charges against him are part of a “deeply troubling and unprecedented” campaign of political retaliation.

Daniel Rodrick, an educator and longtime township councilman who became mayor last year, filed the lawsuit in Monmouth County Superior Court last week.

Rodrick’s case claims that his political foes played a role in the Middletown Township Public School district pursuing an internal investigation against him.

“This is about more than my job—this is about protecting taxpayers and standing up to powerful political insiders,” Rodrick said in a statement released by his lawyer, Donald Burke. “When entrenched interests realized they could not intimidate me into silence, they tried to end my career and destroy my reputation. I refuse to back down.”

The mayor claims he was subjected to harassment, which included false disciplinary claims, manipulated teaching evaluations, stalking, defamation and personal files being released.

Rodrick also alleges he was set up for failure when, in 2022, he was reassigned to teaching special education classes for which he was not certified. He continued teaching students in those classes despite opposing the transition with school officials, the lawsuit states.

The mayor has denied the allegations behind the tenure charges, previously calling them a “political witch-hunt” over “good government policies.”

“My message to the people trying to silence me is simple: I will not quit, I will not be intimidated, and I will not stop fighting for taxpayers,” Rodrick’s statement said. “Transparency and accountability are worth defending—no matter the cost.”

The lawsuit names several people and entities, including a former Toms River councilman, several board of education members and the Middletown Township Public School District.

Rodrick’s career with the district began in 2002, as a science instructor at Middletown High School North, the lawsuit states.

He later moved to Thorne Middle School in 2009, where he taught until he was placed on leave before filing the lawsuit.

Since the start of the current school year, he has been serving as an assistant principal at Irvington High School in Essex County.

Middletown Township school officials accused Rodrick of taking personal calls during the school day, according to tenure charges. In one instance, he allegedly left his students unattended for more than 10 minutes.

At least five students requested transfers out of his classes, prompting an internal investigation, NJ Advance Media previously reported.

Rodrick claims the charges were politically motivated, alleging they stemmed from his role as mayor and that the investigation was part of a political scheme.

The seven-count lawsuit names the district and several people, including Superintendent Jessica Alfone, as well as Frank Capone and Jacqueline Tobacco, the board of education’s president and vice president. It also names Kevin Geoghegan, a former township councilman, and Art Gallagher, a former political consultant.

Requests for comment from Alfone, Capone and Tobacco were not immediately answered on Monday. Neither Gallagher nor Geoghegan could immediately be reached for comment.

The lawsuit alleges violations of Rodrick’s civil rights, as well as the Conscientious Employee Protection Act, a New Jersey law that protects employees from reporting illegal or unethical activities in the workplace. It also claims violations of the Open Public Records Act and common laws regarding documents that Rodrick and his lawyer tried to obtain.

The lawsuit seeks damages for Rodrick’s lost wages and legal fees.

Rodrick alleges that false narratives were created against him, leading to tenure charges that stained his “highly effective” education career.

As mayor, he has often openly criticized local spending and government operations. Recently, he failed to have the township council vote to dissolve the local municipal utilities authority, calling it a “patronage pit.”

He also took steps to prevent the Silveron First Aid Squad from operating. Geoghegan was the ambulance squad’s president at the time he was a council member. Rodrick’s administration sued the squad in 2024, claiming it used 24,000 gallons of township-owned gasoline without reimbursing the township.

Gallagher, who was hired by the township for public relations help under former Mayor Maurice “Mo” Hill, was fired after Rodrick took office. Gallagher ran election campaigns for Capone and Tobacco, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit also alleges Middletown Township schools confirmed Rodrick’s resignation as of Aug. 25, though the mayor argues he never submitted departing paperwork. Therefore, he considers himself still employed by the school district, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit states Rodrick’s tenure charges are pending before the New Jersey Department of Education, which did not immediately return a request by NJ Advance Media for comment.

An Ocean County couple with two young children claimed a $3 million scratch-off lottery prize last week just months after claiming a $1 million jackpot in another scratch-off game.

The “Jackpot Millions” scratch-off game ticket was purchased Thursday at the Exxon convenience store on Fischer Boulevard in Toms River, New Jersey Lottery officials said Monday.

The game, which costs $30 per ticket, started in October and now has two top-prizes of $3 million remaining.

The couple won their first prize in April with the “$1,000,000 Ultimate Spectacular,” a $30 scratch-off game also purchased in Ocean County.

The combined odds of winning both jackpots are roughly 1 in 2 trillion, lottery officials said.

The couple, who are raising a 5-year-old and an 11-month-old, claimed the prizes anonymously, but provided statements shared by lottery officials.

“With our kids, we can’t really get out of the house,” the husband said. “So at the beginning of the month, we get some scratch-off tickets. When the kids go to bed, we scratch a few off. We like to make it a bit of a competition—who can win the most. It seems we at least always break even.”

During their most recent scratch-off session, the husband thought they might have won something before handing the card to his wife.

“I looked at it, held it to my chest and screamed,” she said of the $3 million prize.

“Ten seconds later, she’s laughing. This is perfect,” the husband said before telling his wife: “Babe, we got luck on our side.”

The couple’s celebrations after their $1 million win may have been especially memorable, the wife said.

“Maybe we celebrated a bit too much,” the wife said, patting her belly, according to a statement provided by lottery officials. She is now five months pregnant with their third child.

In a series of votes on Wednesday, the Toms River Township Council rejected a proposal from Mayor Dan Rodrick to dissolve the township’s Municipal Utilities Authority, which his administration considered a way to end redundancies and save large sums of taxpayer money.

The vote included remarks from some council members explaining their reasons for rejecting the proposal, followed by criticism from Rodrick, who insisted that the governing body could have saved taxpayers about $2.5 million per year.

The MUA, founded in 1949, manages wastewater collection for the township and is comprised of a five-person board that handles its finances. Homeowners serviced by the agency were expecting a 2.0% increase in their sewer rates for the year, according to the latest budget.

Rodrick factored in the need for a utilities authority with rising costs, arguing that board members get $45,000 in health benefits for members who “go to one meeting a month for 10 minutes.”

Referring to the MUA as a “patronage pit,” the mayor also claimed the agency uses politically connected law and engineering firms to “milk us for about a half-million dollars a year.”

“Because so many people owe their political positions to power brokers, to political power brokers, we don’t need to have a vote on that any longer,” Rodrick said, moments before some meeting attendees disrupted him by shouting.

“Pretty clear that this council is bought and owned by the same political interests,” the mayor said.

The MUA is operating this year with a $25 million budget, according to a document reviewed by NJ Advance Media. It allocated about $3.8 million in salaries, including $625,165 to compensate its executive director, chief financial officer and seven board members, the budget states.

This year, the utility agency budgeted about $1.5 million for health insurance costs, the document shows.

The MUA has been mired in controversy previously, when the former mayor of Brick Township was appointed its leader in 2010, giving him two full-time salaries. The former mayor has since left his position with the authority.

Bernard Rutkowski, the utility authority’s executive director, could not immediately be reached by NJ Advance Media for comment on the rejected proposition.

Before the council Wednesday evening were three measures. One would have clawed back the size of the MUA, which is made up of five regular members and two alternative members, according to the township code.

The proposals would have given local control over the agency, allowing the township to gradually sunset its operations, Rodrick told NJ Advance Media after the meeting.

The first ordinance to dissolve the authority’s leadership failed 4-3. A sister ordinance to create a locally controlled wastewater utility also failed, 5-2.

Acknowledging that he “lost” with the proposal, Rodrick floated the possibility of it returning. Three new members will be sworn onto the council in January.

Councilman-at-Large Thomas Nivison suggested the township could instead restructure the authority rather than liquidate it.

“If there’s as much redundancy, as the mayor says, with engineering and legal, why don’t we just trim the fat?” Nivison said. “Do the engineering in-house. We have legal. But, keep the entity.”

Council President Justin Lamb said he has “railed against” utilities authorities in New Jersey before, arguing that they’re often made up of recycled municipal workers.

“It feels rushed, for that reason alone, that rush, I’m going to vote no,” Lamb said.