58°
The three Staten Island men subleased an area of the business to receive and store the black-market merchandise — along with $270,000 in cash that borough police recovered during the buy-and-bust operation, Ridgefield Detective Sgt. Robert Williams told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this morning.
The recovered gear includes tents, jackets, boots, Navy SEAL cold-weather clothing and computers, the sergeant said.
Police also seized camouflage parkas that the sergeant said the defendants were buying for $100 each and then re-selling for $350 to customers in South Korea.
They also found military boots — bought for $50 and sold for $300 — and wide-rimmed “boonie” hats bound for the Far East.
“The kids over there are wearing that stuff. It’s the fad,” Williams said.
Replica “boonie” hat
The case began when agents from the Naval Criminal Investigation Service in Quantico, Va., busted a ring that was stealing and then fencing the items online.
Some of the equipment had been swiped from a Navy SEALS yard near Williamsburg, Va., Williams said.
Online customers included the three Staten Island men — identified as alleged ringleader Jay Nusbacher, 41, Suk Dong Kim, 46, and Seong “Steve” Park, 44, he said.
After turning one of the accused Virginia thieves into a cooperator, NCIS investigators negotiated a pair of “controlled buys” by the Staten Island trio, the sergeant said.
During the third “sale,” on Nov. 6, the cooperator and an NCIS investigator showed up at the Ridgefield address with $74,000 worth of merchandise in a U-Haul.
The investigator carried a key fob with a pinhole camera that recorded the defendants paying $11,000 for the purported swag, Williams said.
“As soon as the money changed hands, we moved in,” he told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
Following the arrests, borough police obtained search warrants and recovered the previously bought stolen merchandise and cash.
The gear was turned over to the NCIS.
Borough police will get to keep the money if a local judge approves a forfeiture application.
The three defendants will be prosecuted in Bergen County on charges of receiving stolen property and conspiracy to receive stolen property.
Nusbacher and Park were released on $75,000 bail each soon after the arrests.
Kim remained held on $60,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail.
All were ordered to surrender their passports.
Federal agents, after thanking borough police for their role in the case, have moved on to other customers in Pennsylvania and California, Williams said.
MUGSHOTS: Courtesy RIDGEFIELD PD
Click here to follow Daily Voice Ridgefield and receive free news updates.
