Feb. 12, 2014 Edition of The Observer

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February 12, 2014 • www.theobserver.com • Vol CXXVI, No. 38

COVERING: BELLEVILLE • BLOOMFIELD

• EAST NEWARK • HARRISON • KEARNY • LYNDHURST • NORTH ARLINGTON • NUTLEY

Pleads to bank fraud

A Lyndhurst woman faces 30 years in prison after admitting to her role in what federal prosecutors described as a large-scale mortgage fraud scheme that caused at least $2 million in losses. Klary (a/k/a/ “Patty”) Arcentales, 45, pleaded guilty last week in Federal Court, Newark, to an indictment charging her with four counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced. According to the documents filed in the case and statements made in court, from about 2007 until 2012, Arcentales engaged in the conspiracy through a Woodbridge-based company called Premier Mortgage Services, where she was employed as a loan officer. Authorities said she provided false and fraudulent documents to financial institutions in connection with mortgage applications on behalf of “straw buyers,” individuals recruited by coconspirators and known to have no means of paying the mortgages and no intention of residing at the properties in question. The conspirators used false bank statements and other documents “to make it appear as though the straw buyers possessed far more assets, and see FRAUD page

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Loyal civil servant kept his finger on town’s pulse By Ron Leir Observer Correspondent KEARNY –

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Photo by Ron Leir

fter nearly four decades as a Health Department employee, the last 17 as the chief, John Sarnas, 64, will be retiring on April 1. Mayor Alberto Santos said the town is soliciting applications for a replacement. Submission deadline is Feb. 21. “We have a need for a full-time person – not someone to share with another town – who will be asked, since our staff is limited, not only to oversee the many services provided to the public but also, in some

cases, to implement them,” the mayor said. The list of health-related programs in Kearny is many and varied, including from infant vaccinations, flu and rabies shots, Women Infants & Children (WIC), Meals on Wheels, sanitation inspections, dog licensing, animal control, coordinating with the county on mosquito control and other health issues, among others. Sarnas also chairs the N.J. Mosquito Commission. “We also have a lot of work to do on health education,” Santos added. Sarnas, who began his long career with Kearny as a health inspector on May 1, 1974, is only the fourth health officer in the town’s history since the title came into being. His predecessors were: Edward Grosvenor (1978-1997), see SARNAS page

John Sarnas is retiring.

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Portuguese monument in preparation By Ron Leir Observer Correspondent KEARNY – The Portuguese Cultural Association, headed by Jose Maria Matos, will be donating to the Town of Kearny a monument intended as a tribute to the contributions of the Portuguese-American

community to the town. And that monument will be placed in the Frank M. Cardoza Park (actually an extension of Riverbank Park), just north of the intersection of Passaic Ave. and Stevenson Place, west of the benches opposite the on-site parking area. On Jan. 28, Mayor Alberto Santos and the Town Council

voted to accept the gift and agreed to take on the responsibility for its maintenance and upkeep once it has been installed at the park. The park, developed on the site of the former Maguilian Oil Co., was dedicated Oct. 22, 2013, and named for the late Frank M. Cardoza, a founding member of the old Portuguese

201-991-1300 KEARNY OFFICE 213 Kearny Ave, Kearny, New Jersey

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Club of Kearny who was deputy mayor from 2000 to 2012 and served as a commissioner on the Board of Health and Urban Enterprise Zone board. He was also a past commander of the American Legion post and United Veterans Organization of West Hudson. see MONUMENT page

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