Cops Charge Newark Man in Franklin Lakes Mercedes, Ferrari Theft

Police charged a Newark man who was arrested last month following a state-wide investigation with the October theft of two high-end automobiles from a Franklin Lakes home, according to borough police Lt. John Bakelaar.

Cops say Jimmy Nunez, of Newark, entered an unlocked car parked in the driveway of a Franklin Lakes Road home and found a garage door opener on October 14, 2011.

Nunez opened the garage door and found two high-end import vehicles — a $130,000 Ferrari Spyder and a $60,000 Mercedes Benz SUV — and made off with both luxury cars, according to police.  

Bakelaar said his department believes Nunez was assisted by a second unknown individual. 

 served Nunez, who is currently being held on related charges in the Essex County Jail, on two counts of burglary and two counts of motor vehicle theft.

Authorities in the borough set bail at $250,0000 for Nunez.

Cops recovered the Mercedes Benz but not the Ferrari, Bakelaar said. 

Bakelaar, as well as Detectives Anthony Pacelli and Jeffrey Jost investigated.

Eleven people were from some of the more affluent areas of the state and brought them back to Newark.

The investigation began in August 2011, when the Criminal Intelligence Unit of the Newark Police Department noticed an unusual number of stolen vehicles being left in one part of the city had come from communities well outside the area. 

“What stood out for them was that a lot of these vehicles were not being stolen locally,” Samuel DeMaio, the director of the Newark Police Department, said last month. “Traditionally our stolen vehicle recoveries are from Irvington, Orange, Elizabeth. These were vehicles being stolen from an array of municipalities, literally from Ocean to Bergen County, with a large number coming from Bergen County.”  

Newark police then contacted law enforcement in those communities, who together launched Operation High-End, which eventually involved the State Police, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office and assistance from the Millburn and Jersey City police departments. 
 
“When you have cases like this one come together, where criminals don’t know borders, where they go to other counties in other parts of the state to commit crimes and they come back to another county to seek refuge and plan additional crimes, it truly takes collaboration to be effective,” said Lt. Col. Matt Wilson of the New Jersey State Police. 

Several of the cars recovered during the joint investigation were returned to their owners, police said at the time.

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