3 Middlesex County Residents Part of Car Theft Ring, Prosecutors Say

Woodbridge, NJ - A Woodbridge woman has been named as part of an alleged auto theft ring that targeted cars sold on Craigslist, the New Jersey Attorney General announced Wednesday. And Luther Lewis, 38, of Piscataway, has been named as one of the masterminds of the ring.

Heather Cater, 20, of Woodbridge, was indicted late Tuesday afternoon on charges of second-degree conspiracy and theft by deception. According to prosecutors, Heather and Luther were part of a ring of New Jersey and Florida residents who preyed on people selling their cars on Craigslist. A third woman, Nikisha Goodman, 20, of Avenel, was also involved, prosecutors said.

According to prosecutors, the ring leaders, such as Lewis, enlisted the aid of intermediaries who posed as buyers interested in vehicles advertised for sale on Craigslist. After arranging to see the cars, the intermediaries “purchased” them by presenting the unsuspecting sellers with fake and/or stolen identification and a counterfeit Bank of America cashier’s check. The sellers, in turn, handed over the vehicles’ keys and title to the intermediaries.

The “buyers” typically arranged to purchase the vehicles in the late afternoon so that the private seller could not bring the checks to the bank that day, prosecutors said. In the days after the "sale," the private sellers attempted to deposit the checks and discovered they were counterfeit, prosecutors said.

The bogus sales could not be traced to the intermediaries because they had used fake identification.

Meanwhile, before the private sellers could discover the check was counterfeit, other intermediaries would take the vehicle titles to the NJ Motor Vehicle Commission office to transfer the title into their names.

After successfully flipping the title into the new names, the intermediaries would sell the vehicle to a car dealership for cash. After the transactions were complete, intermediaries were paid between $300 and $1,000 each. Goodman, the Avenel resident, was one of the intermediaries, prosecutors said.

Ten vehicles, valued at $248,650 total, were stolen in this manner, between May and November of 2015, prosecutors said. The cars were sold to dealerships for a $107,250 profit.

“Car thefts drive up insurance claims, which lead to higher premiums for everyone,” said Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Christopher Iu. “By breaking up this alleged crime ring we are protecting honest citizens from having to pay the price for the misdeeds of others.”