Acting Attorney General Robert Lougy announced that a Union County man pleaded guilty today to first-degree carjacking and other charges in connection with a major international carjacking and stolen car trafficking ring that stole high-end cars in New Jersey and New York and shipped them to West Africa.
Yves Augustin, 26, of Rahway, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, armed robbery and two counts of carjacking, all first-degree charges, before Superior Court Judge Stuart Peim in Union County. Under the plea agreement, the state will recommend that he be sentenced to 20 years in state prison on the conspiracy charge and concurrent sentences of 15 years in prison, with 12 years and nine months of parole ineligibility, on each of the charges of carjacking and armed robbery. Augustin is scheduled to be sentenced on June 3.
In pleading guilty, Augustin admitted that he was a member of the stolen car trafficking ring and that he committed two carjackings for which he had been charged. On July 3, 2013, he rammed a Mercedes SUV from behind on McCarter Highway in Newark. When the male victim pulled into a gas station to check for damage, Augustin and an accomplice, who was armed, took the victim’s key fob at gunpoint. On July 9, 2013, Augustin bumped a woman’s Mercedes SUV in Newark and then an accomplice forcibly took her key fob from her hands when she stopped to check her vehicle. Police interrupted that carjacking, and Augustin fled the scene.
Investigators recovered 160 stolen cars worth more than $8 million, primarily at ports in New Jersey and New York.
The Division of Criminal Justice indicted 26 defendants on Dec. 18, 2014, on charges of first-degree racketeering, including three alleged ringleaders, two alleged shippers for the ring, and 21 associates who fenced, carjacked and stole vehicles, or acted as wheel men who moved and hid the luxury cars. Ten defendants previously pleaded guilty in Operation Jacked and were sentenced to prison terms ranging from five to 18 years, including four who pleaded guilty pre-indictment.
The ring targeted high-end vehicles, particularly luxury SUVs made by Land Rover, Mercedes Benz, BMW, Honda, Porsche, Jaguar and Aston Martin.
Twenty-seven of the recovered vehicles had been taken in carjackings, a majority of which involved a gun or other weapon. Carjackers would often target victims by bumping their vehicles from behind on the highway. When victims stopped to address the situation, the carjackers would take their key by force or threat, or simply jump into the vehicle and drive off if the key was left inside. Other vehicles were stolen in “soft steals” from various locations where the thieves were able to steal them with one or more of their electronic keys or key fobs, which are critical to the resale value of the cars.
Thefts occurred at carwashes and at airports, where drivers would leave cars running at terminals to unload luggage. In other cases, ring members obtained cars through fraud, using bad checks to buy cars from new and used car dealerships. In West Africa, the luxury vehicles trafficked by the ring commanded prices in excess of new market value in the U.S.
Shippers would load the cars into shipping containers, which were taken to ports for transport by ship to West Africa. Of the 160 vehicles recovered, 140 were recovered at ports, including Port Newark, Port Elizabeth and Howland Hook Seaport in Staten Island, N.Y. The ring operated in multiple counties in New Jersey, including Essex, Union, Morris, Monmouth, Middlesex, Bergen and Somerset Counties.