Guttenberg man gets 3 years in prison for role in luxury car theft scheme

A Guttenberg man was sentenced to three years in state prison for his role in an international car theft scheme conducted between 2007 and 2009, where luxury vehicles were stolen from New York, rerouted to New Jersey, and then resold to consumers all the way in Abu Dhabi, Acting Attorney General John Jay Hoffman announced. 

Adam Hassan, 32, of Guttenberg, received a three-year state prison sentence in Morris County Superior Court yesterday, which was a part of the plea agreement reached when Hassan pleaded guilty to second-degree receiving stolen property and third-degree receiving stolen property in September, authorities said.

Additionally, Hassan will have to pay back $5,000 to offset the costs of his extradition, which was secured from a Florida collaboration between the OIFP, U.S. Marshals Service and local authorities, officials said. 

Tomas Bladimir Castillo-Abreu, 28, of Bronx, N.Y. will serve three years probation for the operation, while the leader of the car theft ring, Ian Aguilar, 33, of Denville, was sentenced to six years in prison, court documents show. 

Aguilar will serve two concurrent three-year sentences for pleading guilty to receiving stolen property and subsequent charges from the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office that include second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon, third-degree burglary and a disorderly persons offense for simple assault, authorities said. 

“The world can be a marketplace for criminals, as evidenced by the enterprise that these three men created, which targeted the auto-purchasing residents of New York,” said Hoffman in a written statement.

“The prosecution of these defendants is proof of our intent to ensure that New Jersey’s ports and locales are not hubs for international crime.”