Last October, an off-duty Englewood Police Department officer notified this agency of a vehicle located within Mount Olive that appeared to have an altered Vehicle Identification Number, Mount Olive police said.
An investigation determined that a residence in Mount Olive was being used to conduct an illegal operation that stored stolen motor vehicles and to remove and alter VINs from the cars, police said.
In April, three people, Brenda McDonald, a 69-year-old Ossining, NY resident, Jimena Rodriguez, a 19-year-old Budd Lake resident and Sandra Santa-Sepulveda, a 37-year-old Budd Lake resident, were arrested for their involvement in the operation and charged with receiving a stolen motor vehicle, police said.
Following the arrest, a search warrant was executed at a residence in Mount Olive which led to evidence that the property was being used to facilitate and further the illegal operation of removing and altering VINs on stolen motor vehicles, police said.
The search warrant led to Joel Rodriguez, a 41-year-old Budd Lake resident, being arrested for being the leader of the operation, police said. Rodriguez is charged with leader of an auto theft trafficking network, conspiracy to commit auto theft and three counts of theft of a motor news release, police said.
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