DA: School Principal Part Of Major Auto Theft Ring
Posted on Friday, 1 of May , 2009 at 8:11 pm
QUEENS—Eight alleged members of an auto theft ring, including a public school assistant principal, have been indicted on charges involving the theft of 16 late model, high-end automobiles with a total value exceeding $400,000 mostly from dealership parking lots in Queens County and elsewhere.
Some of the automobiles, the majority of which were 2008 models and included expensive BMWs, Mercedes Benzs and Lincolns, then allegedly had their vehicle identification numbers changed or altered before being resold.
The defendants have been variously charged in two separate indictments with the crimes of second-, third- and fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, third- and fourth-degree grand larceny and fourth- and fifth-degree conspiracy. They face up to either seven or 15 years in prison if convicted.
The charges are the result of a joint undercover investigation by the New York City Police Department’s Auto Crime Division and the Queens District Attorney’s Organized Crime and Rackets Bureau.
According to the charges, Melvin Pinckney, 54, of Sheffield Ave., Brooklyn, with the assistance of alleged ring members David Jimenez, 40, of Eldert Lane, Brooklyn, and Alexander Gil, 34, of Atkins Ave., Brooklyn, stole vehicles from auto dealership parking lots in Queens County and Long Island.
It is alleged that a majority of the automobiles were taken from Recon Motors, located at 112-09 14th Ave. in Whitestone, Queens, which is a storage facility where numerous automobile dealerships store their excess inventory. The three defendants would then allegedly drive the vehicles to various lay-up locations – such as the Lincoln Tower’s Parking Garage at 790 Eldert Lane in Brooklyn and in the vicinity of 78th Street and 153rd Ave. in Queens – where the vehicles were kept until they could be sold. Other alleged members of the ring – such as Eddie Olivera, 38, of Bronxwood Ave., Bronx, and Lisle Jackson, 54, of Schenectady Ave., Brooklyn, an assistant principal, allegedly purchased and traded stolen automobiles with the defendant Pinckney.
It is further alleged that Trevlyn LaTore, 35, of Harriman Ave., Hempstead, LI, operated a tagging operations out of a single car garage located at 149-19 133rd Ave. in Queens, where ring members Ibn Traynham, 32, of Dodd St., East Orange, NJ, and Kimani Salley, 30, of MacDonough St., Brooklyn, brought cars to be tagged. As an alleged tagger in the ring, LaTore’s job was to alter the stolen vehicles by replacing and/or altering the true VIN plates with false or forged ones.
Among the victimized dealerships were Mercedes-Benz of Massapequa, located at 20 Carmans Road in Massapequa, LI; Hassel BMW, located at 291 West Sunrise Highway in Freeport, LI; Atlantic Toyota, located at 20 Sunrise Highway in Amityville, LI; Hillside Honda, located at 139-07 Hillside Ave., in Jamaica, Queens; Queensboro Toyota, located at 62-10 Northern Blvd., in Woodside, Bayside Chrysler Jeep, located at 212-19 Northern Blvd. in Bayside, Queens; DiBlasi Ford, located 112-21 Northern Blvd. in Corona, Queens; Popular Ford, located qt 2505 Coney Island Ave. in Brooklyn; and Amaral Auto Sales, located at 295 Park Ave. in Lyndhurst, NJ. 5-1-09
Category: Business, Courts, Crime, New York State
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