3 Sentenced in N.J. for Running International Car Theft Scheme

November 17, 2014

Three men have been sentenced in New Jersey last Friday for running an international car theft scheme from 2007 to 2009. The scheme resulted in high-end cars being stolen in New York and then routed into New Jersey where they were to be shipped to Abu Dhabi for re-sale.

Ian Aguilar of Denville, New Jersey, was sentenced to three years in prison, according to an announcement today by New Jersey’s Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman and the state’s Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor.

Aguilar previously pleaded guilty to third-degree receiving stolen property and admitted to knowingly committing theft by receiving into New Jersey 14 luxury vehicles despite knowing that the vehicles were stolen. He also pleaded to charges including: second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon, third-degree burglary and a disorderly persons offense for simple assault.

Under the plea agreement, Adam Hassan of Guttenberg, New Jersey, will serve three years in prison and Tomas Bladimir Castillo-Abreu of Bronx, New York, received a three-year probation term.

Hassan and Castillo-Abreu previously pleaded guilty to second-degree receiving stolen property and third-degree receiving stolen property, respectively.

The thefts were arranged so that Hassan would tell Aguilar what cars he needed, and Aguilar would then tell Castillo-Abreu, who would steal the vehicles from New York. Aguilar would assist Castillo-Abreu in moving the cars from New York to New Jersey. Aguilar was paid through a cut of the money given from Hassan to Castillo-Abreu, who routed the vehicles for resale in Abu Dhabi.

“The world can be a marketplace for criminals, as evidenced by the enterprise that these three men created, who targeted the auto-purchasing residents of New York,” said Hoffman. “The prosecution of these defendants is proof of our intent to ensure that New Jersey’s ports and locales are not hubs for international crime.”

“Car theft threatens the integrity of the insurance industry, whether or not the theft itself occurred within our borders,” said New Jersey’s Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Ronald Chillemi. “Illegal trafficking of these vehicles through our state creates residual effects in the marketplace that result in rate increases for policyholders.”

Source: New Jersey Office of the Attorney General

Topics Auto New York Fraud New Jersey

Was this article valuable?

Here are more articles you may enjoy.