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Authorities from Morris County, Connecticut and Englewood joined forces to track down Akeem “Light” Boone and members of his crew, culminating in a 10:20 p.m. raid at a garage on William Street near the King Gardens apartment complex.
(Top to bottom) Jamelle Singletary, Marc Carlyle Rainey, Robert Hastu (MUGSHOTS: Englewood PD)
Also arrested were:
- Marc Carlyle Rainey, 25, who was out on bail following his arrest for a Wyckoff burglary earlier this year;
- Jarrell Bordeaux, 27, who was acquitted by a jury in Hackensack in 2009 of the point-blank shooting death of a 24-year-old friend in 2006;
- Jamelle Singletary, 24, who was implicated in an Englewood shooting committed by another man;
- Robert Hastu, 44, the garage owner.
(CLIFFVIEW PILOT broke the story of Boone’s arrest early today: Authorities nab Englewood fugitive)
Thursday night, Morris County detectives followed a vehicle thought to be operated by the crew, which police said tried to emulate the notorious “James Bond Gang” of home burglars from the 1980s.
The trail led them to Greenwich, CT, where the crew committed a burglary, and back to Englewood’s 4th Ward, Englewood Detective Lt. Tim Torell told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
Detectives from Englewood, Teaneck and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Special Investigation Squad soon joined in.
As they watched, the crew pulled in behind a row of multi-family homes on William Street and began “pounding, prying and pulling on this safe trying to get it open,” Torell said.
After calling in uniformed officers from Englewood and Teaneck, the task force bust in.
“They didn’t know what hit them. They were totally surprised,” Torell said.
Singletary tried running but was quickly grabbed by Englewood Officer Tim Barrett.
The investigators communicated with their counterparts in Greenwich, CT, and confirmed that the safe was taken from an upscale neighborhood there.
Boone, Rainey, Bordeaux and Singletary were being held on $750,000 bail each in the Bergen County Jail. Charges include receiving stolen property, possession of burglar tools and obstructing justice. Hastu is charged with maintaining a nuisance, receiving stolen property and possession of burglar tools. His bail is $10,000.
Over the course of the last several years, police agencies across the metropolitan area have increased their networking efforts and capabilities to combat the transient nature of certain burglary crews.
“These crews aren’t exactly rocket scientists, but some are smart enough to know that hitting the same neighborhood, or town, over and over again, greatly increases their chances of being caught,” Torell told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “So they travel away from their home bases to areas they aren’t known in — or so they think.”
Multi-state, multi-county and multi-jurisdictional task forces have been common, the lieutenant said.
Recently, detectives from several different county and local agencies began to focus on Boone and his associates. Information was developed and surveillance set up.
“Morris County was getting pummeled by burglars thought to be from the Englewood/Teaneck areas,” Torell told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “So we were only too happy to share our knowledge of these guys.”
Rainey was free on bail pending burglary charges earlier this year. Wyckoff police grabbed Rainey in May, three days after he was released from Rahway State Prison, where he’d been held since September 2009 on narcotics and weapons possession convictions.They charged him with burglarizing an area home at the same time as a community crime-prevention meeting was ending.
They were also looking for a second burglar at the time who apparently rented the car Rainey was driving when he was stopped. SEE: Ex-con busted in Wyckoff home burglary
At 27, Boone has a lengthy rap sheet, including convictions for weapons possession and drug dealing that sent him to prison for two years from 2007-2009.
His right arm was damaged several years ago when he was shot in Washington Heights. He was nearly hit again in March 2003 when a gunman came up to a car he was sitting in at the Rock Creek Terrace apartments in Englewood and began shooting.
The driver survived bullets in the head and neck, while Boone – who wasn’t struck — was arrested for carrying crack.
Boone wasn’t around when police found 20 grams of crack cocaine and a loaded handgun reported stolen during the burglary of a North Carolina sporting goods store in his Hackensack apartment a month ago. A manhunt had been under way ever since.
Police said Boone continued pulling jobs while ducking court appearances for charges in several jurisdictions.
Boone was barely out of state prison two years when he was arrested last year, along with his brother, Aasim (“Sean”) and former pro basketball bust Sean Banks of Englewood, following a high-speed chase that ended when their SUV flipped. Another Bond gang associate, Jerry Montgomery of Teaneck, also was with them.
Authorities said the quartet had $20,000 in jewelry and other booty with them from burglarized homes in Sparta and Jefferson Township.
They’ve associated Boone, his brother and Montgomery with the infamous James Bond Gang, founded nearly 25 years ago by a quartet of burglars who hit luxury homes in New Jersey, New York and along the East Coast. SEE: JAMES BOND GANG
Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi cited “the intelligence-led policing model, qualitative crime data analysis and criminal intelligence sharing” among several law enforcement agencies.
“Burglars are lower than low in our books,” Torell said. “They wreck the homes of good people, they violate a family’s sense of safety and security, and they strip the most cherished and valuable things we all own.
“Although this crew may be down for now, we’re not so naive to think they won’t be back or there’s not another waiting in the wings to take over where these guys left off. We’ll keep chasing as long as they keep stealing. That you can bet on.”
ALSO SEE:
- YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A woman who Englewood police said sold Ecstasy “mollies” from an ice cream concession stand near the town pool, a man charged with shooting at an occupied car and another accused of running a gambling joint out of his home are among 18 people charged as part of a massive anti-crime crackdown the past three months, Chief Arthur O’Keefe announced Wednesday. READ MORE….
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