Newark Brothers Charged In Holmdel Car Theft

HOLMDEL, NJ — Last fall, we reported how a string of wealthy suburban towns in Central New Jersey was being targeted in car thefts. High-end SUVs, usually sitting unlocked, were stolen right out their owners' driveways in towns like Princeton, Chatham, Morristown, Middletown, Holmdel and Colts Neck. The thefts happened in September and October of 2017.

The cars were always stolen overnight, or in the pre-dawn hours, and in some of the locations, such as Chatham, the homeowner woke up to the sounds of their luxury vehicle being driven away down the street.

On Monday, the New Jersey attorney general announced four Newark men, including a pair of brothers, will be sentenced for a similar string of car thefts. Vehicles were stolen from Morristown, Long Hill, Jamesburg, Holmdel, Livingston, Closter, Princeton and Mahwah.

“These defendants prowled residential neighborhoods and stole cars from their owners’ driveways, creating a high potential for dangerous confrontations,” said New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal.

The ring members stole numerous high-end vehicles, including various models of Mercedes, BMW and Bentley. They used certain spots to “cool off” 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, prosecutors said. After a vehicle was sufficiently “cooled,” it was moved to a loading location, usually in Irvington, to be shipped from the Newark container ports, or was fenced domestically.

Several of the vehicles stolen by the ring members were recovered from shipping containers prior to being placed on cargo vessels.

Past Patch reporting: 8 Suburban NJ Towns Targeted In Luxury Car Thefts (Oct. 13, 2017)

"Once they get the stolen car in the container, the people running these rings come up with paperwork to make it look all very legitimate. The cars are sold overseas with no questions asked," Sparta Police Lt. John Lamon told Patch. His town was hit by a rash of car thefts this summer. "They are very, very good at what they do. The guys in charge don't get their hands dirty by actually stealing the cars. That's the lowest-level part of the operation."

Kelvin Vega, 25, of Newark, was sentenced Monday to six years in state prison; he pleaded guilty on Dec. 4 to second-degree receiving stolen property.

Two other ring members who pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property late last year were sentenced to prison on Jan. 26: Carlos Sanchez Jr., 19, of Newark, was sentenced to four years in prison, and Vega’s brother, Jonathan Vega, 24, of Newark, was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

The fourth ring member, Bilal Cureton, 28, of Newark, faces pending charges, including second-degree charges of conspiracy, theft, receiving stolen property, fencing, and financial facilitation of criminal activity.

One stolen Mercedes S550 was traced to Louisiana. Other stolen cars were recovered in Maryland and Ohio.

"There are always car-theft rings in operation. The authorities will dismantle one and new one will pop up to take its place the next day," said Lamon. "It's because there is so much money to be made off selling the stolen cars. They are usually shipped to West Africa. That's where stolen luxury cars are commonly sold."

Top: Kelvin and Jonathan Vega. All photos released by the NJ Attorney General's Office.