Arrests New Jersey

A 30-year-old New Jersey computer programmer has been charged with launching the Melissa e-mail virus that spread across the world over the past week, infecting millions of computers as far away as China and bringing to a crawl e-mail service on government, education and corporate computer networks. David L. Smith, who, according to authorities, named the virus after a topless dancer in Florida, where he used to live, was arrested Thursday evening at his brother's house in Eatontown, N.J.

People who live in New Jersey can be forgiven if they initially yawned Thursday morning at the news of another federal sting that swept up a wide range of public officials, including the young mayor of Hoboken, who's been on the job all of three weeks. They might have even shrugged at the report that five rabbis were also snared in the dragnet for allegedly washing $3 million through an international money-laundering ring. But body parts?

A man couldn't understand why the teller at a bank drive-in window gave him $1,575 when all he asked for was a deposit slip. He was really shocked when police arrested him. William Baitinger was the victim of a practical joke by a co-worker, Alvin A. Blome, Police Lt. Jon Wainwright said. Blome was charged with disorderly conduct. Blome was in front of Baitinger at a bank's drive-in line Friday. He placed a note in the cash drawer saying he had a bomb and demanding money, Wainwright said.

A Bulgarian national was arrested Sunday at Atlantic City International Airport after federal screeners found a pair of scissors embedded in a bar of soap and two box cutters in a lotion bottle in his backpack. Nikolay Volodicv Dzhonev, 21, was charged with possession of a prohibited weapon. Egg Harbor Township police said Dzhonev was being held on $100,000 bail. An arraignment was set for today.

On Satur-day morning, FBI agents surrounded a brownstone apartment building in this eclectic New York suburb, home to thousands of expatriate Arabs. While a green military helicopter circled overhead, the agents smashed in a window and knocked down a door. Then they carted off three men from the building, populated mostly by Arab families. The agents wouldn't say whether they had anything to do with the destruction of the World Trade Center, once visible from here.

An off-duty pilot was charged Wednesday with making a terrorist threat for mentioning the possibility he had a bomb in his luggage on a jet bound for Los Angeles from Newark International Airport. The remark Tuesday night prompted the captain of the Continental Airlines jet to have security officers and bomb-sniffing dogs check the Boeing 757 jetliner, delaying the flight for more than six hours, officials said. Mohamed Hassan Helal, 30, was ordered held on $10,000 bond.

FBI agents arrested a man they identified as a Palestinian from Jordan on charges of making threats against U.S. officials, including President Bush and Secretary of State James A. Baker III, and conspiring to damage military installations in North Carolina and Texas, the Justice Department said Thursday. Federal officials emphasized that they have not been able to determine the seriousness of the threats allegedly made by Jamal Mohamed Warrayat of Rutherford, N.J.

An Elizabeth man accused of trying to make unwanted contact with Chelsea Clinton has been arrested in New Jersey on charges of having an unlicensed firearm and ammunition stored near the White House, the Secret Service said. Vladimir Zelenkov, 26, who was arrested at his home, had an unauthorized semiautomatic weapon and ammunition in a safety deposit box at a bank at at 1700 Pennsylvania Ave., the arrest warrant said. The White House is at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. A U.S.

Freedom was fleeting for Dana C. Giacchetto, the money manager to the stars. Just a week after he was arrested and released on $1 million bond pending trial on charges he looted at least $6 million from his A-list of clients, Giacchetto was seized again early Wednesday getting off a flight from Las Vegas to Newark, N.J.

The arrest of a former security guard and his wife on charges that they kidnaped an Exxon executive failed to lead to the missing man's whereabouts Saturday. The FBI and the U.S. attorney's office said they are still searching for Sidney J. Reso, 57, president of Exxon Co.'s Florham Park-based international division. "I don't expect anything new to happen until Monday," said Dick Lavinthal, spokesman for U.S. Atty. Michael Chertoff. Arthur D.

A man was arrested and charged Monday with kidnapping a 6-year-old girl from a quiet New Jersey neighborhood where her family moved to as a haven after the World Trade Center attacks, authorities said. Barry Sherman, 37, was arrested at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, N.J., and charged with first-degree kidnapping, endangering the welfare of a child and making terrorist threats, said FBI Special Agent William Evanina.

On Satur-day morning, FBI agents surrounded a brownstone apartment building in this eclectic New York suburb, home to thousands of expatriate Arabs. While a green military helicopter circled overhead, the agents smashed in a window and knocked down a door. Then they carted off three men from the building, populated mostly by Arab families. The agents wouldn't say whether they had anything to do with the destruction of the World Trade Center, once visible from here.

Disgraced financier Robert E. Brennan, who, before regulators labeled him a cheat, appeared in TV commercials urging investors to buy penny stocks, was arrested and charged with bankruptcy fraud. Two indictments were unsealed with Brennan's arrest, both related to his cashing of $500,000 in casino chips five years ago. These are the first criminal charges Brennan has faced. He was arrested at his Colts Neck, N.J., home.

A man killed his wife and mother-in-law Tuesday by slashing their throats, then held his 9-year-old son hostage for several hours before surrendering, police said. Ali Kemoum, believed to be in his early 50s, walked out of his home in the afternoon. The boy, also named Ali, was released unharmed about an hour before Kemoum gave up. The dead women were found in the kitchen, Mayor Sharpe James said. They were identified as Amada Dominguez, Kemoum's wife, and her mother, Carmen Dominguez.

Two men were arrested Monday night and charged in the murder-for-hire of the wife of a prominent rabbi, who was earlier charged in the killing. Leonard Jenoff, 54, and Paul M. Daniels, 26, were charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the killing of Carol Neulander, prosecutor Lee Solomon said. Neulander, 52, was bludgeoned to death on Nov. 1, 1994, in her Cherry Hill home. Her husband, Rabbi Fred J. Neulander, faces trial in June.

Authorities searching for a missing computer consultant recovered his body from a New Jersey swamp, 10 days after he was believed to have been kidnapped from a Kentucky motel by a man brandishing fake FBI credentials. Gregory J. Marcinski is accused of kidnapping Paul Jeffery Gale from a motel in Florence, Ky. Marcinski's housemate was arrested and told agents where to find the body, the FBI said in court papers.

Authorities confiscated 20 pistols, rifles and shotguns from the home of a 15-year-old New Jersey boy who threatened his ninth-grade teacher a day after last week's shootings in Springfield, Ore., police said Tuesday. The youth on Friday had shown the female teacher at Pinelands Regional High School a drawing of a human figure in the cross hairs of a rifle scope, officers said. The guns seized Saturday in a search of the family's home were all legally owned by the boy's father.

Dozens of times in the last several weeks, John Lovrovic drove onto federally protected woodlands, piled up twigs, magazines and other combustibles, added gasoline and set it all ablaze, authorities said Friday. Then he set other fires nearby, hoping they would combine for a major forest fire, they said. Officials allege that he once set eight fires in the same area; none burned more than half an acre.

Freedom was fleeting for Dana C. Giacchetto, the money manager to the stars. Just a week after he was arrested and released on $1 million bond pending trial on charges he looted at least $6 million from his A-list of clients, Giacchetto was seized again early Wednesday getting off a flight from Las Vegas to Newark, N.J.

An off-duty pilot was charged Wednesday with making a terrorist threat for mentioning the possibility he had a bomb in his luggage on a jet bound for Los Angeles from Newark International Airport. The remark Tuesday night prompted the captain of the Continental Airlines jet to have security officers and bomb-sniffing dogs check the Boeing 757 jetliner, delaying the flight for more than six hours, officials said. Mohamed Hassan Helal, 30, was ordered held on $10,000 bond.