9 Ran Widespread, 4-County Burglary, Car Theft Ring In NJ

Nine men ran a large-scale car-theft and burglary ring across four counties in New Jersey over the past year, authorities announced on Thursday.

A grand jury in Paterson returned the 131-count indictment that charged the nine men, all of Paterson, who were arrested recently in connection with the car thefts and break-ins.

The crimes occurred in Passaic, Morris, Middlesex and Monmouth counties from January to September of 2017, according to Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes.

The charges stem from 10 burglaries to car dealerships and businesses throughout North Jersey, including:

• B&M Auto Mall, Clifton
• Otocity, Totowa
• Lakeview Auto, Clifton
• Action Auto Sales, Old Bridge
• Michael's Motorcars, Neptune City
• Deals on Wheels, East Brunswick
• NJ Auto Sales, Sayerville
• Europlus Motorsports, South Brunswick
• East Coast Motors in Jefferson

Other charges stem from an attempted burglary to B&M Auto Mall and incidents where other crimes allegedly occurred where authorities tried to arrest people or recovery stolen property, Valdes said.

Alleged ringleader Tahaad Caster, 20, was charged with 16 counts of the indictment, including theft and burglary, Valdes said. He was arrested Oct. 7.

Caster was also charged after fingerprints were found at the scene of a burglary of the Auto Trader Wholesale in Saddle Brook during the morning of Sept 4, authorities announced.

Video footage of the burglary showed a black vehicle pull up to the rear of the building at 4:30 a.m., police said. Two men exited the vehicle and another remained inside the vehicle.

One of the men threw a brick through the front glass door and went inside while the second man remained outside, police said. The first man handed the second a safe, which was heavy, police said.

The men threw the safe over a fence leading to North 6th Street and followed it; the men then went back to the vehicle without the safe, the chief said. The vehicle backed out of the parking lot and headed north on 5th Street.

Saddle Brook detectives reviewed the surveillance footage and the Bergen County Sheriff's BCI Unit helped detectives recover fingerprints and DNA from the scene, police said.

As a result of the match, Caster was identified and detectives discovered he is incarcerated in Passaic County Jail on unrelated charges, police said.

Multiple charges were filed, meanwhile, against the remaining eight men, many of whom were charged and released in accordance with the state's statutes. Some of the men were charged with using a juvenile in the thefts.

The other eight men charges are:

• Demetrius Balmer, 20
• Raequann Reid, 22
• Jorge Lopez, 20
• Jahon Lloyd, 20
• Donte Gaskin, 23
• Jahad Toney, 22
• Shamell Sparks, 23
• Malik Patterson, 20

Of the eight, Balmer faces 11 charges, including theft, burglary and resisting arrest. Some of them face decades in prison if convicted of all the charges filed against them.

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Photos, top row, from left: Demetrius Balmer, 20; Donte Gaskin, 23; Jahad Toney, 22 and Shamell Sparks, 23. Bottom row, from left: Jorge Lopez, 20; Malik Patterson, 20; Raequann Reid, 22; Jahon Lloyd, 20 and Tahaad Caster, 20. Courtesy of Passaic County Prosecutor's Office