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Janay Cole and Jamelle Singletary, both 26, were returned to the Bergen County Jail along with 30-year-old Jawal Erskine, also of Teaneck — and also being held on $750,000 bail — after the initial court appearance this afternoon in Hackensack.
Jamelle Singletary, Lawal Erskine, William C. Collins (PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia)
A fourth defendant, 30-year-old Queens jewelry salesman David Tadjiev, remained held on $500,000 bail following a court appearance last week. Authorities said he fenced the jewelry that the crew stole.
A fifth defendant, Jamal Sermon, also 30, remained held on a fugitive warrant in Westchester County pending extradition to New Jersey.
All but Sermon were brought here last week following their arrests at Tadjieve’s Astoria home on Nov. 6 in connection with more than 30 burglaries in Bergen, Morris and Somerset counties. Charges include burglary, conspiracy and possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute it.
Singletary and Cole are also charged with child endangerment for having the drugs around their young child, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said earlier today.
CLIFFVIEW PILOT broke the news last week of the men’s arrests, as well as being the first to report Cole’s arrest yesterday (SEE: 3 with James Bond Gang ties, jeweler fence busted by Bergen prosecutor’s strike force).
A former Englewood school lunch room attendant, Cole supplied Singletary with locations to burglarize as part of the break-in spree, Molinelli said this morning, confirming her arrest (SEE: Former Englewood school lunch attendant charged in roundup of James Bond Gang heirs).
Cole — who once worked for the private Delta-T Group in the Englewood school district — turned herself in to detectives at Molinelli’s Paramus office on Friday after a week on the run, the prosecutor said.
Singletary and his alleged accomplices have ties to the infamous James Bond Gang, a crew of convicted burglars from the Englewood/Teaneck area.
Ironically, he and Erskine were brought into court today shackled to Williams Collins, an original Bond Gang founder, whom authorities charged with plotting to kill a co-defendant (SEE: $750G bail for Teaneck Bond Gang founder charged with plotting murder of co-defendant in burglary case).
Jamelle Singletary, Lawal Erskine, Jamal Sermon (MUGSHOTS: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY SHERIFF)
Molinelli said Singletary and the others operated much the same way as their Bond Gang predecessors — only without a hi-tech rigged car that gave the original crew its name.
“For instance, the burglars generally targeted residences located in affluent neighborhoods,” he said. “The residences were likely selected by their size, the presence of expensive vehicles in the driveway, and the appearance of the residence being unoccupied at the time of the burglary.
“The residences were generally attacked in the early evening hours during the middle of the week, and were often located in or adjacent to a cul-de-sac,” the prosecutor said. “Entry to the residences was often gained by forcing open the front doors.
“Once inside the residence, the burglars proceeded to the master bedrooms and removed jewelry, cash, and other property. In most of the incidents, pillow cases were taken from the residences and likely used to transport the property,” he said.
Molinelli’s Special Investigations Squad zeroed in on the defendants after launching an investigation in February into a series of local burglaries.
The scope quickly expanded as similar break-ins were reported in Morris and Somerset, he said.
“As detectives continued to develop additional information about these crimes, they shared this information with local law enforcement,” the prosecutor said. “The investigation further revealed that the burglars would often take the stolen property to a “fence” in New York City who paid large amounts of money in exchange for the stolen proceeds.”
David Tadjiev (MUGSHOT: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR)
That man was Tadjiev, who operates a Manhattan Diamond District jewelry business, he said.
Harrison, N.Y. police already were investigating Tadjiev in connection with receiving stolen property, the prosecutor said.
They teamed up with Molinelli’s detectives to concentrate on him — which raised Singletary as a suspect.
He was already known to authorities, having received probation for his role in the October 2012 theft of a 600-pound safe from Connecticut (SEE: Judge nixes Englewood burglar’s plea withdrawal).
Sermon, meanwhile, was one of 10 people charged in an indictment returned by a grand jury in Hackensack last month with using an Englewood flophouse as a gambling den, recording studio and marijuana stash house (SEE: Indictment names 10 in Englewood gambling den bust).
While tracking him, investigators saw Singletary get into a car with Erskine and Sermon and head from Teaneck to Someset County, where they committed two burglaries in Warren and Bridgewater, Molinelli said.
“Task force members continued to track the individuals’ vehicle as it traveled back up into Bergen County and stopped in a housing development in Englewood,” he said.
As they watched, items stolen during the break-ins were thrown into a trash bin, the prosecutor said.
The three re-emerged a short time later and drove to Queens for a meeting with Tadjiev at his home, he said.
They brought in jewelry stolen in Somerset — and detectives moved in, Molinelli said.
Janay Cole
Search warrants at Tadjiev’s home, the dumpster and the Teaneck defendants’ homes were executed.
A handgun loaded with hollow-point bullets was found at Sermon’s home, while cocaine packaged for distribution was recovered at Singletary’s, Molinelli said.
“Detectives also recovered a safe and other personal property and documents which are believed to have been stolen during a previous residential burglary that is still under investigation,” he said.
Cole’s attorney, Vincent Basile, said today that he will petition for a hearing “as soon as possible” to try and lower her “extremely high” bail. He entered a not-guilty for Cole.
She, like Singletary and Erskine, faces additional charges out of other jurisdictions.
Police from Montville were in court this afternoon to deliver formal copies of their county’s complaints against them.
No pleas were entered for Singletary and Erskine, who will be applying for public defenders.
PHOTOS, TOP: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthous Reporter Mary K. Miraglia
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