Crime Ring Leader Indicted In North Jersey: Attorney General

TEANECK, NJ — The leader of a North Jersey crime ring was indicted on charges that he and three others were involved in at least 17 burglaries, which resulted in "well over half a million dollars" in stolen cash, jewelry and other valuables across the state.

Keith Perry, 38, of Teaneck, was arrested in April and charged alongside three other residents in connection to 17 burglaries in Morris, Bergen, Essex, Somerset, Hunterdon, and Union Counties.

Perry was indicted in connection to these burglaries on Wednesday, but law enforcement officials have investigated the crime ring's involvement in 84 total burglaries which spanned nine counties between October 2020 and April 2021.

A grand jury indicted him on charges of:

• Promoting Organized Street Crime (1st Degree),
• Conspiracy (2nd Degree),
• Burglary with a Weapon (2nd Degree),
• 16 Additional Counts of Burglary (3rd Degree),
• Receiving Stolen Property (2nd Degree), and
• Theft by Unlawful Taking (2nd Degree)

In connection with the charge of burglary with a weapon, it is alleged that, during a burglary in Englewood on Dec. 23, 2020, the homeowner confronted Perry, who made a motion inside his sweatshirt as though he had a gun and said, "I’ll shoot you," the Attorney General's Office said.

The indictment comes after two members of the crime ring, Porsche Brown, 29, of Lodi, and Kay Brown, 23, of Paterson, pleaded guilty on July 13 to third-degree burglary and are awaiting sentencing. A fourth man, Gregory Lewis, 37, of Teaneck, is charged second degree conspiracy and third degree burglary.

A criminal complaint filed in April details that each burglary "involved a similar modus operandi," and law enforcement officials suspect that the same criminal ring was involved in all 84.

Well over half a million dollars in cash, jewelry, and other valuables were stolen in total in the 84 burglaries, the Attorney General's Office said.

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