NEW JERSEY — Four men were indicted today on charges they conspired to steal numerous luxury cars in northern and central New Jersey which they attempted to load on cargo ships or fence in other states in some instances. They were charged in an investigation by the New Jersey State Police Auto Theft Task Force and Division of Criminal Justice.<\/p>\n
The Division of Criminal Justice Specialized Crimes Bureau obtained a state grand jury indictment today charging each of the following men with second-degree counts of conspiracy, financial facilitation of criminal activity, fencing, receiving stolen property, and theft by unlawful taking:<\/p>\n
Kelvin Vega, 25, of Newark,
\nJonathan Vega, 24, of Newark, Kelvin\u2019s brother,
\nCarlos Sanchez Jr., 18, of Newark, and
\nBilal Cureton, 27, of Newark.<\/p>\n
All of those men are also charged with third-degree burglary, and Cureton is charged with third-degree attempted theft by unlawful taking.<\/p>\n
The defendants allegedly stole numerous high-end vehicles, including various models of Mercedes, BMW and Bentley. The investigation revealed they allegedly used certain spots to \u201ccool off\u201d vehicles, parking them at a hotel in Elizabeth, for example, until they were sure they were not equipped with tracking devices that would lead law enforcement to them. After a vehicle was sufficiently \u201ccooled,\u201d it was moved to a loading location, usually in Irvington, to be shipped, or was fenced domestically.<\/p>\n
Several of the vehicles allegedly stolen by the defendants were recovered from shipping containers prior to being placed on cargo vessels. The defendants were allegedly directly linked to thefts of at least 14 vehicles with a combined estimated value of more than $800,000. Vehicles were stolen in New Jersey from Morristown, Long Hill, Jamesburg, Holmdel, Livingston, Closter, Princeton and Mahwah. One stolen Mercedes S550 was traced to Louisiana, where Kelvin Vega allegedly was found in possession of that car and a second stolen Mercedes S550. Other stolen cars were recovered in Maryland and Ohio.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese men allegedly scoured wealthy residential areas for the luxury cars they prized, typically stealing them right from their owners\u2019 driveways,\u201d said Attorney General Porrino. \u201cThis was big business for these defendants, but our Auto Theft Task Force has taken down their alleged conspiracy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the past several years, we\u2019ve arrested scores of car thieves, including violent carjackers, through joint investigations with the New Jersey State Police and our other law enforcement partners,\u201d said Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice. \u201cBy putting these criminals behind bars and breaking up their fencing operations, we\u2019ve made our residents safer and protected valuable property.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThese callous defendants targeted suburban residents and luxury car owners for their own financial gain,\u201d said Colonel Rick Fuentes, Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police. \u201cThanks to the collaborative efforts of the State Police Interstate Theft Unit, the Division of Criminal Justice and their task force partners, we were able to put an end to this real-life ‘Grand Theft Auto’ scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW JERSEY — Four men were indicted today on charges they conspired to steal numerous luxury cars in northern and central New Jersey which they attempted to load on cargo ships or fence in other states in some instances. They were charged in an investigation by the New Jersey State Police Auto Theft Task Force […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5409,"featured_media":110476,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[1,54],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n