Jose Ventura, 34, and Carmen Y. Martinez, 31, were charged Thursday with receiving stolen property after a nearly two-month investigation, Newark Public Safety Director Anthony F. Ambrose said.
Search warrants executed at a home on the 700 block of South 11th Street turned up $14,741.00 in cash; three motorcycles stolen out of Jersey City, Hoboken and New York City; seven motorcycles with defaced vehicle identification numbers; a jet ski stolen out of Ridgefield Park; and a 2016 Acura RDX stolen out of Franklin Lakes, Ambrose said.
A surveillance system, five cell phones, two motorcycle license plates,16 vehicle titles from six different states and a device used to re-tag vehicles, were also recovered by police, according to Ambrose.
"I commend the Police supervisors, detectives and officers who successfully completed a two-month long stolen vehicle investigation that led to the recovery of 12 stolen vehicles,” Ambrose said. “I’m also grateful to our state and local law enforcement partners for their invaluable support in this operation.”
Ventura is charged with receiving stolen property, while Martinez faces charges of receiving stolen property, making false reports to law enforcement and destruction of evidence. Additional charges are pending for both Ventura and Martinez.
The search warrant was executed detectives of the 4th Precinct in a joint operation with the Newark Police Division’s Emergency Response Team, the Hoboken Police and the New Jersey State Police.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Pascack Valley and receive free news updates.