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TRENTON
- Attorney General Stuart Rabner and Criminal
Justice Director Gregory A. Paw announced
that two Pennsylvania men have been sentenced
to a combined 35 years in state prison for
their roles in an auto theft ring responsible
for thefts of more than $3 million worth
of vehicles.
According
to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden
Brown, Dariusz Grabowski, also known as
Derek Grabowski, 37, Lake Ariel, Pennsylvania,
was ordered by Superior Court Judge Scott
J. Moynihan in Union County to serve 20
years in state prison, with eight years
parole ineligibility, and to pay more than
$725,000 in restitution. In addition, Grabowski’s
brother, Krzysztof Grabowski, 26, also of
Lake Ariel, was ordered by Judge Moynihan
to serve 15 years in state prison, with
seven years parole ineligibility, and to
pay more than $725,000 in restitution.
On
Feb. 8, Dariusz Grabowski pleaded guilty
before Judge Moynihan to a criminal accusation
that charged him with second-degree leader
of organized crime, second-degree conspiracy
to commit racketeering and second-degree
racketeering. Krzysztof Grabowski, 26, of
Lake Ariel, pleaded guilty the same day
to second-degree conspiracy to commit racketeering,
second-degree racketeering and third-degree
alteration of a vehicle identification number.
A
multi-agency investigation into the criminal
network revealed that more than 150 vehicles
with a total value in excess of $3 million
were stolen, re-tagged and sold by Dariusz
Grabowski and other members of the criminal
enterprise he admitted to leading.
“These
lengthy prison sentences resulted from a
highly effective multi-jurisdictional investigation
which dismantled a major auto theft ring,”
said Attorney General Rabner. “Our
Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor worked
with the New Jersey State Police, the Pennsylvania
State Police, the New York Attorney General’s
Office and the National Insurance Crime
Bureau.”
At
the guilty plea hearing before Judge Moynihan,
Dariusz Grabowski admitted that between
March 2003 and November 2005, he was the
leader of an organized enterprise that stole
cars, re-tagged them using counterfeit and
salvaged titles, and sold them, frequently
on the Internet through eBay.
A
re-tagged or re-plated vehicle is a vehicle
which has had its original vehicle identification
number plate removed so that a VIN from
another vehicle, usually a vehicle which
has been damaged in an accident and which
is a salvage vehicle, can be affixed to
the stolen vehicle to disguise that it was
stolen.
Dariusz
Grabowski admitted that he falsely portrayed
himself as a locksmith licensed in New York
to obtain automobile key codes from a company
known as Key Code Express located in Florida.
A key code is a code used in connection
with the manufacture of certain automobile
keys which enables only the key with the
proper code to unlock and start a specific
vehicle.
Fraud Prosecutor Brown noted that Dariusz
Grabowski admitted he falsely obtained more
than 130 key codes from Key Code Express
in Florida, as well as 36 key codes from
the Jameson Code Service and six key codes
from the Key Quest Inc. key service. He
obtained the key codes so that other members
of the enterprise could steal vehicles,
frequently from automobile dealerships,
and so that the stolen vehicles could be
re-tagged and sold on eBay. He admitted
that he was involved in the sale of at least
42 stolen vehicles utilizing eBay.
Krzysztof
Grabowski admitted that, as a member of
this enterprise, he obtained counterfeit
vehicle tags and titles.
State
Investigators Jarek Pyrzanowski, Jeffrey
Lorman, Joseph Luccarelli, and Kelly Howard,
Civil Investigator Gary Miller, Analysts
Paula Carter and Barbara Ziolkowski and
Deputy Attorneys General Jacqueline Smith
and Philip J. Mogavero coordinated the investigations.
Mogavero represented the Office of Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor at the sentencing. Also
assisting in the investigation were New
Jersey State Police Detective Joseph Salokas
and National Insurance Crime Bureau Agent
Donald Cavallo.
Prosecutor
Brown noted that some important cases have
started with anonymous tips. People who
are concerned about insurance cheating and
have information about a fraud can report
it anonymously by calling the toll-free
hotline 1-877-55-FRAUD
or visiting the Web site www.NJInsuranceFraud.org.
State regulations permit an award to be
paid to an eligible person who provides
information that leads to an arrest, prosecution
and conviction for insurance fraud.
The
Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor was
established by the Automobile Insurance
Cost Reduction Act of 1998. The office is
the centralized state agency that investigates
and prosecutes both civil and criminal insurance
fraud, as well as Medicaid fraud.
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