Former NYPD Officer Sentenced to 51 Months in Prison for Perfume Warehouse Armed Robbery with Active-Duty Cops

NEWARK, NJ—A former New York City police officer was sentenced today to 51 months in federal prison for conspiring to commit the armed robbery of a Carlstadt, N.J., perfume warehouse, in which he, three active New York Police officers, and others stole approximately $500,000 of perfume while holding 11 employees hostage, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Orlando Garcia, 27, of New York, previously pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge before U.S. District Judge William H. Walls. Judge Walls also imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Garcia admitted that from December 2009 to February 2010 he conspired with NYPD officers Kelvin L. Jones, 30, of Yonkers, N.Y., Brian Checo, 26, and Richard LeBlanca, 27, both of New York, and others to rob the In Style USA warehouse. Garcia stated that on February 9, 2010, he and others entered the warehouse while carrying firearms, displaying NYPD-issued badges, and announcing themselves as NYPD officers. Garcia admitted that, during the course of the robbery, 11 employees were held hostage while the conspirators loaded hundreds of boxes of perfume onto trucks that were used to transport the stolen perfume. After leaving the warehouse, Garcia met Jones, Checo, LeBlanca, and others in New York, where they developed a plan to conceal the crime after some of the conspirators had been arrested at the robbery site by Carlstadt authorities. Garcia admitted that in an effort to conceal his involvement, he falsely reported his credit card stolen—the same card he had used earlier that day to rent one of the trucks used in the heist.

Checo and LeBlanca each pleaded guilty before Judge Walls to conspiring to commit armed robbery, on March 23, 2010, and April 20, 2010, respectively. Jones was convicted by a jury last December on all four counts charged in the indictment—conspiring to commit armed robbery, armed robbery, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, and interstate transportation of stolen merchandise—and was sentenced on Sept. 7, 2011, to195 months in prison. Checo was sentenced the same day to 75 months in prison. LeBlanca is currently scheduled to be sentenced tomorrow, Sept. 13, 2011.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Walls sentenced Garcia to three years’ supervised release. A universal restitution hearing before Judge Walls will be held for all defendants Dec. 9, 2011.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward in Newark, for conducting the investigation. He also thanked the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of John L. Molinelli, as well as the Carlstadt Police Department and the NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau, for their assistance.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric T. Kanefsky of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Special Prosecutions Division in Newark.

Defense counsel: Pasquale F. Gianetta Esq., Wayne, N.J.