A New Jersey man has admitted his role in a conspiracy to steal and transport across state lines luxury cars stolen from towns in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey, reported U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger.
Malik Baker of Vauxhall pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas in Newark federal court to one count of conspiring to transport stolen vehicles in interstate commerce and one count of receiving a stolen vehicle that had crossed state lines after being stolen.
According to prosecutors, Baker’s conspirators – Hakeem Smith, Nafique Goodwyn, and Bilal Cureton – previously pleaded guilty to related charges. Smith was sentenced on April 25, 2023, to 41 months in prison. Sentencing is pending for Goodwyn and Cureton.
According to court documents, between July and September 2019, the defendants and others stole and conspired to steal at least 10 luxury cars from towns in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey, and hid those cars at a location in Irvington, New Jersey.
The cars include a 2019 BMW X4 M40i, a 2017 BMW Alpina, a 2017 Maserati GranTurismo, a 2018 Range Rover, a 2019 Porsche Cayenne, a 2017 Mercedes S550, a 2019 Rolls Royce, a 2019 Land Rover, a 2019 Mercedes Maybach, a 2014 Lexus GS, a 2017 BMW M4 and a 2017 Mercedes AMG S63.
Prosecutors said the defendants often used the stolen cars to steal more cars, and, in one instance, they used a Maserati GranTurisimo they stole from Manalapan to steal a Range Rover and a Porsche Cayenne. When law enforcement attempted to conduct a stop of the Maserati, the Maserati accelerated and crashed head-on into a police vehicle before the suspects fled the scene in another stolen vehicle. Law enforcement recovered one of the stolen cars in a shipping container at the port in Newark en route to Ghana, Africa.
The charge of conspiracy to transport stolen vehicles is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison. The charge of receiving stolen vehicles is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison. Both charges are punishable by a fine up to $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offenses, whichever is greatest. Sentencing is scheduled for March 7, 2024..
Topics Auto Fraud New Jersey
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