New Jersey
State suspends 4 NJ nursing facilities from Medicaid after parent company’s guilty plea

What happens when someone is arrested and charged with a crime?
When someone is arrested and charged with a crime, police departments observe a protocol that includes the reading of Miranda Rights.
The owners of four skilled nursing facilities in North Jersey will be suspended from New Jersey Medicaid starting in May following a guilty plea by parent company KBWB Operations and its former CEO Kevin Breslin to federal health care fraud and tax conspiracy charges in January, the Office of the State Comptroller stated Monday.
In January, KBWB Operations LLC and Breslin of KBWB-Atrium pleaded guilty to health care fraud and tax conspiracy in an alleged scheme to divert millions of dollars in Medicaid and Medicare funds away from nursing facilities in Wisconsin for personal expenses and other purposes.
At one time, according to the state comptroller, Breslin and KBWB operated about a dozen facilities in New Jersey as well as several others in Wisconsin and Michigan.
Following this guilty plea, in a letter dated Feb. 6, the comptroller notified Little Falls-based KBWB Operations, doing business as Atrium Health and Senior Living, as well as Breslin and the other owners of KBWB Operations that, as of May 7, they and their four NJ facilities will no longer be able to provide services to Medicaid beneficiaries or receive Medicaid funds as long as KBWB-Atrium and Breslin are the owners. Aside from Breslin, other owners who received suspension notices from the OSC include William G. Burris, Jr., William G. Burris III, Mary Theresa Khawly, Elia Zois and Vincent Tufariello.
The affected facilities include the Avalon Rehab and Care Center in Wayne, Atrium Post Acute Care of Wayne, Atrium Senior Living of Park Ridge and Atrium Post Acute Care of Park Ridge.
These facilities may continue to remain in the Medicaid program if the current owners disassociate from them entirely. According to the comptroller, this means that they must either “divest ownership or the facilities are placed under the control of a receiver or other independent party so that the suspended individuals have no access to authority over Medicaid funds.”
This action marks only the latest to remove nursing home owners from Medicaid due to evidence of fraud and/or irresponsible management, according to the comptroller report. The comptroller has taken action against the owners and administrators of seven other New Jersey nursing homes over approximately the last 12 months.
For example, a December report found that the owners and operators of South Jersey Extended Care, the state’s worst-rated nursing home, improperly funneled millions of dollars of Medicaid funds into their own business and personal charities, “leaving residents to live in a dismal, understaffed, and under-resourced facility.”
“Again and again, we are seeing owners and operators of Medicaid-funded nursing homes in New Jersey engaging in massive fraud. That’s causing real harm to the vulnerable residents who rely on Medicaid. The fraud is also wasting taxpayer dollars,” said acting State Comptroller Kevin Walsh. “This is a systematic problem, and it needs to be treated as one.”
The December report made several recommendations to the Department of Human Services, the Department of Health, and the legislature to protect the integrity of Medicaid, the comptroller said.
Breslin and KBWB are scheduled to be sentenced in May, according to the comptroller. The owners of the affected facilities have a right to challenge their suspension and disqualification from Medicaid.

New Jersey
Mail stolen from 6 USPS mailboxes across Fort Lee, N.J. Map shows where residents need to be wary

Police are investigating after mail was stolen from half a dozen United States Postal Service mailboxes in Fort Lee, New Jersey, over the weekend.
It comes amid recent reports of mail security issues across the Tri-State Area.
Fort Lee Police issue warning for residents who used blue mailboxes
Fort Lee Police say Sunday morning, a resident contacted the authorities after noticing a blue USPS mailbox was unsecured, open and empty.
“They did a little canvassing of some other mailboxes in the area, in the borough, and realized there was probably about a half dozen other mailboxes in the same situation, where the door was open and all the mail was removed,” Fort Lee Police Chief Matthew Hintze said.
Hintze said Fort Lee Police launched a joint investigation with USPS inspectors and discovered six mailboxes were targeted across Fort Lee. The boxes were located at:
- 1580 Lemoine Ave.
- 231 Main St.
- 309 Main St.
- 1213 Anderson Ave.
- 1475 Bergen Blvd.
- Abbott Boulevard/Columbia Avenue
Investigators believe the master key or locks on the mailboxes were somehow compromised. They also believe the thief or thieves were likely looking for personal information to commit fraud.
Police say anyone who dropped mail containing sensitive information in any of the impacted mailboxes after 3 p.m. on Sept. 20 should be on the lookout for suspicious activity.
“Please monitor all your financial accounts, check your bank accounts. If you really want to do due diligence, conduct a credit report, maybe a credit freeze,” Hintze said. “If you see anything suspicious or fraudulent, please come in to the Fort Lee Police Department and make that report.”
The investigation is ongoing.
Mail-related crime across New York and New Jersey
This is just the latest mail-related crime reported in the Tri-State Area in recent weeks.
Earlier this month, two Long Island business owners said they lost nearly $3,000 after someone apparently fished checks they had mailed out of a mailbox, washed off the ink, and rewrote the checks.
“I went to the post office to file a complaint, and they said this is an everyday occurrence. It’s constantly happening,” business owner Rich Miller said at the time.
They were later reimbursed, but they weren’t the only recent victims of check washing. Another Long Island resident said she lost $20,000 after three checks she wrote were stolen and cashed by a thief.
“What the Postal Police had showed me is that they literally took Wite-Out and they erased the payable to,” Jean Gioglio-Goehring said.
Experts advise paying bills electronically to avoid falling victim to crimes like these.
Police say another way to keep your mail safe is to bring it inside the post office instead of just dropping it one of the blue mailboxes, even if the boxes are right outside the building.
“The only way you’re going to be safe is to take the mail actually into the post office during business hours and then you know your mail is safe. Because if you deposit it in a mailbox after hours, then you’re certainly at risk,” Tenafly resident Neil Taylor said.
New Jersey
Watch: 2,358 people play catch to break world record in New Jersey – UPI.com

Sept. 23 (UPI) — The Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center in New Jersey gathered 2,358 people to play catch and break a Guinness World Record.
The Sunday event at Yogi Berra Stadium in Little Falls officially broke the record for the largest game of catch, with 2,358 people splitting off into pairs to throw baseballs back and forth.
Guinness World Records adjudicator Michael Empric said there were very few disqualifications during the attempt.
“There were some phone violations, and also there was some rolling of the ball,” he told MLB.com. “When we say catch, we want people to play to the best of their ability. That does involve throwing the ball, not rolling it. There weren’t a lot of deductions, though. For a group this size, I think eight pairs were deducted, which was minimal.”
New Jersey
Can’t-miss 2025 girls soccer games across New Jersey this week, Sept. 15-21
The regular season is heating up and there is must-see action across the state of New Jersey. Check out the list below to see some of the best games to keep from Monday, Sept. 15, to Sunday, Sept. 21.
Monday, Sept. 15
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