New York Attorney General Letitia James and NYPD Commissioner Edward A. Caban announced on March 11 that nine members of a Bronx car theft ring pleaded guilty and were recently sentenced for their roles in the theft and criminal possession of 45 vehicles during a 6-month period from April to October 2020.

 

According to officials at the Office of the Attorney General (OAG), the defendants carried out a systematic, auto theft operation during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, targeting cars in New York City and Westchester County that were parked on the street for days at a time. They said crew members would reprogram vehicles’ computers to disable alarms and quickly gain access to the cars, which they then resold across the United States and the Dominican Republic.

 

In the context of the announcement, James said, “These individuals took advantage of New Yorkers who stayed at home in the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to steal some of their most valuable assets.” She added, “Using sophisticated methods, they stole and sold cars throughout New York City and Westchester County. Now we are bringing them to justice, and I thank my partners in local law enforcement for their coordination and support in taking down this dangerous car theft ring and continuing to protect the safety of all New Yorkers.”

 

OAG officials said the takedown was the result of a 2-year investigation by the OAG’s Organized Crime Task Force (OCTF) and the NYPD’s Auto Crime Division. They said the investigation began in ­­­­September 2019 and included hundreds of hours of physical and covert surveillance, court-authorized wiretapping of numerous targeted phones, execution of search warrants, and the recovery of surveillance video capturing the thefts of numerous vehicles.

 

The investigation, dubbed “Operation Master Key,” for the theft crew’s ability to create keys to gain access to different vehicles, revealed crew members Norberto Pena Brito, Jose Lebron Pimentel, Dariberto Fernandez Perez, and Hector Rivera were responsible for locating, stealing, altering, and reselling stolen vehicles throughout New York City and Westchester.

 

OAG officials said that from April 2020 to October 2020 when New Yorkers stayed at home and parked their cars for days at a time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the crew scoped out and targeted cars to steal, primarily targeting Hondas. They obtained key code information for these vehicles from unlawful websites and created keys that allowed them to breach and steal the vehicles.

 

They said once inside a vehicle, they reprogrammed its computer system to gain control of the vehicle, disable alarms, and start the engine. In a matter of minutes, crew members were able to steal a vehicle without sounding alarms or drawing any attention, even in a dense urban setting. The theft crew was also able to reprogram the vehicle to stop recognizing the true owners’ electronic keys, so they stopped working.

 

They said members of the organization then transported the vehicles back to one of several lots located in The Bronx, where the vehicles were altered and the vehicle identification numbers (VINs) were changed to give the stolen cars a new identity. Crew members installed fake VIN plates on the floors of the cars that covered the true VIN plates. They also forged federal certification stickers on the cars and removed the legitimate registration stickers.

OAG officials said Jesus Cabral was hired to remove and replace windshields and to change vehicle VINs assigned by the manufacturer. At times, Norberto Pena Brito and Jose Lebron Pimentel would also buy stolen cars from Carlos Valverde. Afterwards, crew members sold the stolen cars to their customers, including to Willy Abreu Martinez and Abdul Khan, who were two of the high-volume customers purchasing the stolen cars for resale in the United States and in the Dominican Republic.

 

They said Leticia Saldivar, the owner and operator of Carmela’s Multiservice and Auto Tag in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was recruited to obtain, organize, and file fictitious vehicle documents with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, and obtained clean registrations and titles for stolen vehicles.

 

For his part, Caban said, “These sentences are the result of New York law enforcement’s tireless efforts to remove a highly active auto theft ring from the streets of our city.” He added, “NYPD detectives, in partnership with our colleagues on the state Attorney General’s Organized Crime Task Force, vow to continue investigating and dismantling any such criminal operations that target innocent New Yorkers.”

 

OAG officials said the nine defendants have since pled guilty and were sentenced in Bronx Supreme Court on March 8 by Judge Guy Mitchell. Norberto Pena Brito, 38, pled guilty in July 2023 to criminal possession of stolen property in the second degree (a class C felony) and conspiracy in the fourth degree (a class E felony). He was sentenced to one to three years in state prison, and ordered to pay nearly $40,000 in restitution.

 

Jose Lebron Pimentel 42, pled guilty in February 2024 to ciminal possession of stolen property in the second degree (a class C felony). He was sentenced to one year in state prison. Dariberto Fernandez Perez, 33, pled guilty in June 2023 to criminal possession of stolen property in the second degree (a class C felony) and conspiracy in the fourth degree (a class E felony). He was sentenced to one to three years in state prison.

 

Hector Rivera, 54, pled guilty in May 2023 to criminal possession of stolen property in the second degree (a class C felony) and conspiracy in the fourth degree (a class E felony). He was sentenced to five years of probation. Willy Abreu Martinez, 41, pled guilty in May 2023 to criminal possession of stolen property in the second degree (a class C felony) and conspiracy in the fourth degree (a class E felony). He was sentenced to five years of probation.

 

Jesus Cabral, 58, pled guilty in July 2023 to criminal possession of stolen property in the second degree (a class C felony) and conspiracy in the fourth degree (a class E felony). He was sentenced to five years of probation. Carlos Valverde, 36, pled guilty in June 2022 to the attempted criminal possession of stolen property in the third degree (a class E felony). He served over two years in jail.

 

Adbul Khan, 37, pled guilty in March 2023 to unauthorized use of a vehicle in the third degree (a class A misdemeanor). He was sentenced to six months in jail. Leticia Saldivar, 39, pled guilty in February 2023 to offering a false instrument for filing in the second degree (a class A misdemeanor). She was sentenced to six months in jail.

OAG officials said the case is the latest takedown of a car theft organization by the attorney general’s office. In December 2023, they said James and the NYPD’s auto crime division charged two brothers with crimes related to theft and possession of vehicles in The Bronx, and in August 2023, James announced the convictions of six Bronx-based members of a crew responsible for over 200 burglaries of businesses in the Lower Hudson Valley, New York City, and on Long Island, including car dealerships.

 

In October 2022, James and former NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell announced the takedown of a luxury vehicle theft ring in New York City.

 

James thanked the NYPD’s auto crime division for their partnership in the investigation, along with the Yonkers Police Department, Pennsylvania State Police, the Police Department for the City of Reading, Pennsylvania, the Bureau of Police for the City of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts State Police, New Jersey State Police, Miami-Dade Metro Police Department, United States Customs and Border Protection Agency, Homeland Security Investigations, Vermont Division of Motor Vehicles, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, New York Department of Motor Vehicles, the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), and the National Automotive Service Task Force (NASTF) for what she said was their valuable work and assistance in the investigation and prosecution.

 

The investigation was directed by NYPD Auto Crime Division’s Detective Daniel Fox (now retired) and OCTF Detective David Walsh, the latter working under the supervision of Supervising Detective Bradford Miller and the overall supervision of Assistant Chief Investigator Ismael Hernandez and Deputy Chief Investigator Andrew Boss. The OAG’s Investigations Division is led by Chief Investigator Oliver Pu-Folkes.

 

The case was prosecuted by Assistant Deputy Attorney General Ann Lee, with the assistance of Legal Support Analyst Christine Cintron, under the supervision of Downstate OCTF Deputy Chief Lauren Abinanti. Nicole Keary is the Deputy Attorney General in Charge of OCTF. Both the Investigations Division and OCTF are part of the Division for Criminal Justice. The Division for Criminal Justice is led by Chief Deputy Attorney General José Maldonado and overseen by First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy.