A NJ Man Seeks Root Canal from Woman Advertising in a WhatsApp Group Text, Ends Up Regretting his Decision

A New Jersey woman was caught in February 2026 after allegedly practicing dentistry without a license.

Female dentist with patient; credit: SoyBreno on Unsplash

Investigation into a Fraudulent NJ Dentistry Practice

People reported that Ana Amato was arrested on Feb. 19 after a "months-long" investigation into her dentistry that began after charging a man $1,000 for a root canal. The man found her services from an ad on WhatsApp.

The South River Police Department Chief Mark Tinitigan said the following in a press release:

"This is certainly not the type of case we see every day, but it affirms our officers approach every call - routine or not - with the same level of professionalism and commitment to public safety."

Sgt. Peter Roselli and Officer Peter Szukics from the South River Police Department took a report, which first appeared to be a routine call. They quickly learned it was not a normal dispute between two people. 

During that call, the police officers discovered revealing information that Amato may have been performing dental procedures without a proper license.

Detective Patrick Molina then spent months looking into the incident, and the police determined that Ana Amato of Old Bridge was practicing dentistry without a license.

A Man Found out Mid-Root Canal She Would Not Finish the Procedure

After seeing an ad in a WhatsApp group chat, a man agreed to pay the unlicensed Amato $1,000, with a $300 down payment for a root canal. He went to her office on Sept. 22, 2025. She proceeded to inject his gums with an anesthetic and then began drilling into his affected tooth. Then, mid-session, she "abruptly" stopped and told the man to come back later in the week so she could finish the procedure.

Before he came back to her office for the remainder of the procedure, Amato allegedly told the man that she "wouldn't be able to do it and gave him a list of local dentists." At this point, the two "got into an altercation," because she would not return his down payment. 

He then took his complaint about the unlicensed Amato to the local police station.

The South River Police Department executed a search warrant at Ana Amato's office on Feb. 19, 2026, where she was arrested and items were seized for the investigation.

Amato was charged with second-degree aggravated assault, third-degree unlawful practice of dentistry, and third-degree financial facilitation of criminal activity.

Details of the Investigation can be read in the Facebook post below:

credit: South River Police Department

Sources:

Goldman, Jeff. "Fake dentist advertised on WhatsApp, tried to perform a root canal, court docs say." NJ.com. 2 March 2026.

Phillipp, Charlotte. "Woman Accused of Impersonating a Dentist After Starting a Root Canal on Patient." People.com. 8 March 2026.

South River Police Department on Facebook.

Amazon is Training Robots for Home Package Delivery, Per Report

Amazon is enhancing its logistics operations by developing and testing humanoid robots for package delivery. This initiative aims to improve efficiency and potentially transform the last-mile delivery process and integrating robots into more of its operations.

Robot holding an Amazon package

Amazon is Making a Park to Train Robots for Package Delivery

Amazon has been constructing a humanoid robot park in its San Francisco, CA office. This indoor obstacle course is designed to train robots to navigate complex environments, simulating real-world delivery scenarios with the future goal of package delivery.

According to The Information, the company plans to deploy these humanoid robots from inside its fleet of Rivian electric delivery vans. The robots would exit the vans to deliver the packages directly to the customer's doorstep to streamline the delivery process. Per the New York Post, Amazon recently purchased 20,000 Rivian vans for its fleet.

Amazon has established an "agentic AI team" focused on developing flexible robot systems capable of understanding and responding to natural language commands. This effort is part of a broader strategy to replace rigid test-specific machines with more adaptable solutions. 

The company is evaluating various humanoid robots, including the digital robot from Agility Robots and a $16,000 model from China's Unittree. These tests are crucial for assessing the robotics capabilities in real-world delivery tasks.

More Robots Could Potentially Reduce the Need for Humans

While the deployment of humanoid robots could enhance efficiency, there are concerns about potential impacts on human employment. Amazon currently employs approximately 275,000 drivers in the U.S. and about 1.55 million people worldwide. The company states that the human drivers can still operate the vans without causing inefficiencies, suggesting this would be a collaborative approach between humans and robots. 

This initiative reflects Amazon's ongoing commitment to integrating advanced technology into its operations, potentially setting new standards in the logistics and package delivery industry.

Sources:

Galvin, Shane. "Amazon testing out human delivery robots that will 'spring out' of vans: report." New York Post. 5 June 2025.

The Information. "Amazon Prepares to Test Humanoid Robots for Delivering Packages." 

Weatherbed, Jess. "Amazon is reportedly training humanoid robots to deliver packages." The Verge.

Question to the reader: Would you have a problem if a robot delivered an Amazon package to your home?

Glenn Powell and Tom Cruise Will Return in Top Gun 3: 'There is Stuff Happening'

Top Gun 3 is in the works as scriptwriting began in late 2023 after Top Gun: Maverick's success at the box office. Glenn Powell says "There is stuff happening and it sounds very exciting."

Top Gun 3

Glen Powell Has a Start Date for Filming Top Gun 3

Glenn Powell dished some details on the future of Top Gun 3.

Yahoo! Entertainment reported that Glenn Powell said, "There is going to be some fun stuff being announced soon...but it was confidential to me. I talk to Kosinski, Cruise and Jerry all the time. There is stuff happening and it sounds very exciting. I don't know when I'll be going back...I'm sure there is a jet waiting for me sometime in the future."

Glenn Powell also said, "I mean, I have a date," confirming that there is a start date to begin filming Top Gun 3.

Variety reported in January 2024 that Ehren Kruger is working on a script for the sequel to Top Gun: Maverick, but the script would have to be first approved by Tom Cruise.

Top Gun: Maverick Makes Big Box Office Profit

Deadline reported that Top Gun: Maverick earned at least $391.1 million profit at the box office and reported that it was Tom Cruise's best opening at the box office with 126.7 million over a 3-day period, and $248 million worldwide.

Source: Deadline

How Much Money did Top Gun: Maverick Gross Worldwide?

How much money did Top Gun: Maverick gross worldwide?

Wikipedia reported that Top Gun: Maverick had a worldwide gross of $1,495,696,292 in 2022. It ranks as #12 among the highest grossing films of all time, just behind Furious 7.

Companies use Surveillance Software to Monitor their Remote Employees Working from Home

 

Company using surveillance on remote employees

If you are a remote worker, there are some questions you may ask yourself:

"Does my company spy on remote employees with home office surveillance?"

"Does my company spy on me while I am working remotely?"

"Is my company spying on its remote workers using the webcam?"

These are all valid questions a remote worker should consider.

The Pandemic has shifted more Office Workers to Remote Workers

Thanks to the pandemic, we now live in a world where many of us are now working remotely from home or now working a hybrid work schedule, with some days in the office, and other days working from home. Some companies are now willing to hire a person after doing a webcam interview, and will ship a desktop or laptop computer straight to their new employee's address!

Do employers spy on their employees with special software, now dubbed "tattleware?" The answer is: Yes.

Some companies do spy on their employees working remotely from home, to monitor performance.

This type of home office surveillance is not okay with everyone.

A Company was Spying on a Remote Employee without his Permission

The Guardian published an article about a man hired to work for a company in their Digital Marketing department. He was working for home, and after working for them for three weeks, he discovered that the company installed software called Sneek on his company-owned computer. The company used this software to take photos or video clips from the laptop camera on that computer, at their discretion to monitor his performance. The employee found this to be an invasion of his privacy, so he quit. He said, "I signed up to manage their digital marketing...not to livestream my living room."

Source: The Guardian

Is Sneek Software Used to Spy on Remote Workers, or Stay Connected to Teams?

Sneek software co-founder Del Currie says: "We know lots of people will find it an invasion of privacy, we 100% get that, and it's not the solution for those folks...but there's also lot's of teams out there who are good friends and want to stay connected when they're working together."

Sneek is just one example of remote surveillance software companies are using to monitor their remote employees on company-provided desktop and laptop computers.

Source: The Guardian

Why can Remote Workers not be Trusted to Work from Home?

The Washington Post reported that thousands of companies now use monitoring software to record employees' Web browsing and active work hours, dispatching the kinds of tools built for corporate offices into workers' phones, computers and homes. But they have also sought to watch over the workers themselves, mandating always-on webcam rules..."

Source: The Washington Post

Other Ways Employers Monitor Remote Workers on Desktop and Laptop Computers

There are other ways employers can monitor remote workers, in addition to or instead of using webcam surveillance. These other methods include:

• An Archive of all web pages viewed on desktop and laptop computers
• Logging keystrokes on employee's desktop and laptop computers
• Monitoring all open applications on an employee's desktop and laptop computer
• Screen captures of the desktop and laptops on the network

Quick statistics:

American Management Association did a survey of companies, and found the following:

- 48% of participating companies use video surveillance to prevent sabotage, violence, and theft.

- Only 7% of these companies use video surveillance monitoring to track on-the-job work performance.

Source: American Management Association

What Laws Protect Remote Employees from Surveillance Software?

The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) allows for employers to monitor business-related activities on the company-owned property, but requires the employer to inform the employee of their recording activity.

A company will also typically disclose their surveillance of employees in their Employee Handbook or in disclosures that employees agree to and sign at the initial hire date. This includes their computer and internet policy, and how they monitor their employees using company property (i.e. desktop and laptop computers).

Suggestion for Remote Employees Working from Home with a Webcam

If you take a company-owned computer home, be aware that your employer might be monitoring you. As a suggestion, and unless your company specifically says otherwise, you can take a piece of tape, and tape something like a piece of paper, or use non-transparent electrical tape, and obstruct the view from your front-facing camera. If your employer has a problem with this, they will let you know, but this will ensure that you are not being recorded without your knowledge. Be sure to be careful not to cause damage to the company laptop or webcam while applying the tape. This tape will have to be removed if you have a meeting.

If your company monitors its employees without informing you, would you feel that it is an invasion of your privacy?