Luxury car owners in New Jersey can sleep a little easier, after New Jersey’s Attorney General Matthew Platkin and the Division of Criminal Justice announced charges against 11 people arrested over their alleged roles in an auto theft ring. Prosecutors claim the thieves would target expensive cars, then break into homes in order to steal the keys, take the cars, and then store them in parking garages in the Bronx before shipping them out of the country.
During their investigation, authorities found 43 stolen Land Rovers, Mercedes-Benzes, BMWs and other luxury cars in two parking garages on Jennings Street and Third Avenue in the Bronx, worth a collective $3.65 million.
In a statement, Attorney General Platkin said:
While car thefts in New Jersey have decreased significantly over the past year and have continued to decrease in 2025, we are committed to reducing them further. This case is about more than just the theft of vehicles, it is about stealing people’s sense of security and safety. No one should be afraid that a thief will enter their home while they are sleeping to find their key fobs to steal their car, as is alleged in this case. So, we are working collaboratively to use every tool we have to return that sense of safety and security to our communities – including new laws, new technology, and information sharing between law enforcement agencies and between states to shut down car theft operations.
Home break-ins
According to the charging documents, law enforcement first found evidence of an auto theft ring in July 2024 that targeted Morris, Essex, Mercer, Middlesex, and Burlington counties before fencing them in the Bronx. Thieves would allegedly steal the requested cars, usually from people’s homes, then take them to the Bronx, where the fences would pay them, store the vehicles, and then arrange to have them shipped to “West African countries.” Several allegedly stolen vehicles that were previously stored in the Bronx parking garages were also found in shipping containers at the ports in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and Staten Island, New York.
While the thieves did allegedly target legitimately valuable vehicles such as Rolls-Royces, they also went after luxury cars you might not even think would be worth stealing, including a BMW X7 and an Audi SQ8 that were both valued at roughly $52,000. They also allegedly stole more than just the keys to the cars they intended to steal, with surveillance video showing thieves in one break-in taking “a Gucci purse, Gucci wallet, Valentino wallet, $400 in cash, a driver’s license, a N.J. Firearms ID card, and the vehicles.”
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark also issued a statement, saying:
This case reflects how car theft today is a global enterprise. Millions of dollars worth of stolen vehicles—including a $475,000 Rolls Royce—were taken to a Bronx parking garage that defendants used as a showroom. The vehicles wound up in shipping containers in Elizabeth and then in West Africa. My Office, specifically, Assistant District Attorney Jessica Lupo, a Deputy Chief in the Trial Division, worked with NYPD Auto Crime and NJ Attorney General Matthew Platkin to identify and dismantle this group. We will not tolerate auto crime in the Bronx.
H/T: CarScoops