Officials claim "Operation 17 Corridor" led to the recovery of at least 90 vehicles worth more than $4 million and charges for 22 men
TOTOWA -- The thieves would stake out fancy restaurants, country clubs and the driveways of tony suburban homes with a shopping list, authorities said.
Land Rover. Maserati. Bentley. Mercedes.
Sometimes, they'd swipe them while their owners were gone, and sometimes they'd take them at gunpoint, police claim. Then they'd allegedly fence them across the U.S., from New Jersey to Arizona -- and abroad, as far away as West Africa, where they can go for twice their retail value.
But state officials said Wednesday that "Operation 17 Corridor," a 16-month investigation led by the State Police and Attorney General's Office, brought it all down.
"We have taken aim at carjackers who -- in order to satisfy the demand for high-end, luxury vehicles -- have expanded their crime into suburban communities along the Route 17 corridor," acting state Attorney General John Hoffman told reporters.
All together, authorities claim the operation led to the recovery of at least 90 vehicles worth more than $4 million and charges for 22 men, three of whom remained at large Wednesday.
State authorities announced on Wednesday, October 28, 2015 that more than 90 cars worth a total of $4 million had been recovered in a car theft ring involving at least 22 men. (S.P. Sullivan | NJ Advance Media) State officials said the investigation began nearly a year and a half ago, not long after State Police and other agencies completed "Operation Jacked," a sweep of high-end car thefts in Newark and around Essex County that netted 160 cars and 26 arrests.
MORE: State Police dismantle international crime ring that shipped cars from NJ to West Africa
Elie Honig, director of the state Division of Criminal Justice, said the results of that crackdown were "dramatic," with carjackings in the county falling by nearly two thirds over the next year.
But authorities say the 22 accused car thieves charged Tuesday turned their attention to the suburbs of Central and North Jersey and New York state.
In one recent case, Keansburg resident Derrick Moore, 36, and two others driving a black BMW allegedly pulled into the parking lot of an Italian restaurant in Hanover earlier this month, demanding car keys from a valet at gunpoint. They made off with a new Mercedes S550 and a Bentley Continental GT, worth more than $200,000, police said.
Hoffman said none of the carjackings and car thefts investigated in Operation 17 Corridor resulted in serious injuries to their victims.
"But we need only remember the murder at the Mall at Short Hills in December of 2013," he added — referring to the fatal carjacking of 30-year-old Dustin Friedland — "to comprehend how quickly things can turn deadly when carjackers carry out this kind of armed ambush."
The alleged carjackers worked off a wish list created by the heads of the operation, police said, and in some cases made off with cars idling in front of gas stations and airports, their keys left in the ignition.
In other cases, authorities claim, they rented them from car rental facilities with bogus credit cards, never returning them.
The cars, once stolen, were allegedly stored in airport parking garages, warehouses and other nondescript locations to "cool off," authorities said. There, the thieves allegedly checked them for tracking devices before fencing them.
Thieves and lower-level fences could make as much as $4,000 per vehicle, while those at the top of the organization could make "six figures," Hoffman said.
"Wheelmen" would ferry the stolen cars around while seeking buyers, while "shippers" arranged for them to be placed in shipping containers at ports in New York and New Jersey, sending them abroad to Ghana, Nigeria, Guinea and Gambia, where they'd fetch high prices, police charge.
Acting State Attorney General John Hoffman and State Police Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes speak to reporters inside a State Police station in Totowa. State authorities announced on Wednesday, October 28, 2015 that more than 90 cars worth a total of $4 million had been recovered in a car theft ring involving at least 22 men. (S.P. Sullivan | NJ Advance Media) More than a dozen agencies joined the State Police and Division of Criminal Justice in the investigation, including Port Authority Police and ICE Homeland Security Investigations, Hoffman said.
Col. Rick Fuentes, the head of the State Police, said the arrests disrupt "a major cog in the international car theft market."
The alleged ring leaders — Tyja Evans, 39, Ibn Jones, 37, and Eddie Craig, 36 — were all arrested Tuesday in a sweep of 19 men, mostly from Essex County and New York.
They were charged with first degree racketeering, money laundering and a range of other charges and are being held on as much as $1 million bail each. The accused are scheduled to appear in Superior Court in Morris County on Oct. 30.
They face decades in prison, authorities said.
Three other men — Kenneth Daniels, 29, Donnell Carroll, 28 and Khalil Culbreath, 38, all of Newark — remain at large.
Police said they're working to match the 90 recovered cars with their owners — in some cases, they said insurance companies have already counted them as losses.
Outside a press conference at the State Police Troop B headquarters in Totowa, half a dozen of the luxury vehicles sat gleaming in the rain, looking like high-end show models at a dealership.
Hoffman said the investigation reveals how dramatically the criminal enterprise of auto theft has changed with technology. With new security features and advanced electronic entry devices, a boosted car has to come with its original keys to sell for its full value, Hoffman said.
"The modern car thief needs to commit a carjacking or steal the car using a method that gets him the key," he said. "Many times, unfortunately, and dangerously, that means armed confrontation."
The attorney general added: "The joyriding youths (hot-wiring cars) we used to hear about 10, 20 years ago — that's gone."
S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.