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Porsche Brown, 29, of Lodi, and Kay Brown, 23, of Paterson (no relation) took guilty pleas rather than take their chances with a jury.
The likelihood that either or both could testify against him in exchange for leniency at sentencing could determine the course that Keith Perry, 38, takes in his defense.
A grand jury this week indicted Perry on a host of charges, including promoting organized street crime, conspiracy and 17 counts of burglary -- one of them while armed -- among other offenses, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said.
Perry’s mixed-gender crew operated far and wide, Bruck said.
They committed burglaries in Bergen, Essex, Passaic, Morris, Somerset, Union, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Monmouth and Rockland counties over just a five-month span, the attorney general said.
They were brazen, too.
“Their willingness to commit these crimes while homeowners were present demonstrated that they were prepared to engage in confrontation, which could easily have escalated into violence,” said New Jersey State Police Supt. Col. Patrick J. Callahan.
Dozens of local police departments and other law enforcement agencies worked with their state colleagues to dismantle the ring this past spring.
A car crash in Hackensack and an alert officer in Cedar Grove played huge roles.
Investigators armed with a search warrant found proceeds from one of the burglaries in a Mercedes-Benz GL 450 that Perry crashed in March, according to the indictment.
They quickly identified him as the intruder who threatened an Englewood homeowner by "making a motion with his hand inside his sweatshirt as though he had a gun" and saying, “I’ll shoot you,” last December.
SEE: Home Invasion: Robber Threatens to Shoot Englewood Owner, Police Say
Investigators then learned that Porsche Brown hocked a “significant” amount of stolen jewelry at a pawn shop in Vineland, the indictment says.
All told, well over half a million dollars in cash, jewelry, and other valuables was swiped in the spree, Bruck said.
The M.O. was the same: The burglars forced their way in through a door, usually in the afternoon or early evening, ran to the master bedroom and other areas of the house and fled with the goods, he said.
Perry was arrested in North Carolina by a U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force on April 30. He was extradited to New Jersey and has remained held in the Morris County Correctional Facility in Morristown ever since.
The multi-agency investigation was led by the state Division of Criminal Justice, New Jersey State Police and police from New Milford, Teaneck and Verona, assisted by the Essex and Somerset county prosecutor’s offices and a host of municipal police departments listed below.
“Day in and day out, law enforcement in New Jersey demonstrates the power of working together cooperatively to solve crimes and keep our residents safe,” Bruck said.
“Instead of local police investigating each burglary in isolation, we had more than 40 law enforcement agencies sharing intelligence and working as a team to eliminate this threat,” New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice Director Lyndsay V. Ruotolo added.
Deputy Attorney General Matthew Lafargue is leading the prosecution for the New Jersey DCJ’s Specialized Crimes Bureau.
The lead investigators:
- NJ State Police: Detective Sgt. Brian Kearns and Investigators Erica Benedetti and Jessica Butt;
- NJ Division of Criminal Justice: Specialized Crimes Bureau Chief Erik Daab, DCJ Deputy Director Annmarie Taggart and Detectives Scott Caponi and Sang Han;
- Verona PD: Detective Thomas J Conroy III;
- New Milford PD: Lt. Kevin Van Saders, Detective Sgt. Nelson Perez, Detectives Derek Mattessich and Brian Carlino and Officer Adam Conboy;
- Teaneck PD: Detective Gabriel Santiago;
Huge assists came from police in Cedar Grove and Verona, authorities said.
Bruck also cited participating police departments from: Bedminster, Berkeley Heights, Bernardsville, Boonton, Bridgewater, Clarkstown (NY), Clinton Township, Englewood, Fairview, Glen Rock, Hackensack, Haledon, Harrington Park, Holmdel, Little Falls, Livingston, Madison, Manalapan, Marlboro, Milburn, Monroe, Montclair, Montville, North Caldwell, North Haledon, Northvale, Paramus, Parsippany-Troy Hills, Pearl River (NY), Randolph, Tenafly, Totowa, Warren Township, Washington Township (Bergen County), Watchung, Wayne, West Orange, Woodcliff Lake and Wyckoff.
DCJ Detective Shawn Gorlin, who is a member of the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force, led the fugitive investigation.
Bruck thanked the Task Force and all of the participating law enforcement agencies "for their invaluable assistance.”
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ALSO SEE: A thief who crashed his car into a bus while fleeing Teaneck police was captured by their colleagues from Bogota, authorities said. READ MORE....
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