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Like his pals, Malik Baker, 29, of Vauxhall, NJ, took a deal from the government, pleading guilty in federal court in Newark on Oct. 19 to conspiring to transport stolen vehicles in interstate commerce and receiving a stolen vehicle that had crossed state lines after being stolen.
U.S. District Judge Esther Salas scheduled Baker's sentencing for March 7, 2024.
Baker had remained on the sidelines while his three confederates admitted their roles in the interstate ring.
One of them, Hakeem Smith, of Newark, was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison in exchange for his guilty plea. Fellow Brick City residents Nafique Goodwyn and Bilal Cureton are both awaiting sentencing.
The crew members often used one stolen car to swipe another, according to a complaint on file in U.S. District Court in Newark.
In one instance, the government said, members of the Essex County-based crew stole a Maserati GranTurismo at the Jersey Shore and drove it to New City in Rockland, where they took a 2018 Range Rover and a 2019 Porsche.
A predawn police pursuit followed before the Maserati driver hit the gas and slammed it head-on into a police vehicle. The suspects fled in another vehicle.
Authorities later recovered one of the stolen cars in a shipping container bound for Ghana at Port Newark.
The thieves stashed most of the stolen vehicles in Irvington while selling them, Carpenito said.
Among other vehicles they were accused of taking:
- a 2014 Lexus GS stolen from West Long Branch, NJ;
- a 2017 BMW M4 stolen from Marlton, NJ;
- a 2016 Mercedes-Maybach S600 stolen from Clifton, NJ;
- a 2017 Mercedes S550, a 2017 BMW Alpina and a 2019 Rolls Royce, all stolen from Hewlett Bay Park, NY;
- a 2019 Land Rover stolen from Kensington, NY;
- a 2019 Mercede-Maybach stolen from Quogue, NY;
- a 2017 Mercedes AMG S63 stolen from Orangeburg, NY;
- a 2019 BMW X4 M40i stolen from Greenwich, CT.
Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI and the Newark Police Department with the investigation leading to the arrests and pleas.
He also thanked police in Irvington, Wall Township, Marlboro, Tewksbury, Clarkstown, NY, along with New Jersey State Police, Port Authority police and the the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office.
Sellinger also cited work on the case by officers with U.S. Customs and Border Protection's New York Field Office, special agents of Homeland Security Investigations Newark and the Department of Commerce Office of Export Enforcement.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Amore, who's the chief of Sellinger's General Crimes Unit, is handling the case for the government.
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