Member of Perfume Warehouse Armed Robbery Scheme Involving NYPD Officers Sentenced to 70 Months in Prison
| U.S. Attorney’s Office September 14, 2011 |
NEWARK, NJ—Luis Morales, 33, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was sentenced today to 70 months in federal prison for his role in the armed robbery of a Carlstadt, N.J., perfume warehouse in which he and several active NYPD officers, one former NYPD officer, and others stole approximately $500,000 of perfume while holding 11 employees hostage, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
On March 5, 2010, Morales was arrested and charged along with NYPD Officers Brian Checo and Richard LeBlanca, both of New York; former NYPD Officer Orlando Garcia of New York, and others. Morales pleaded guilty on May 26, 2010, before U.S. District Court Judge William H. Walls in Newark, to an Information charging him with conspiring to obstruct commerce in connection with his role in robbing hundreds of boxes of perfumes and fragrances from a warehouse used by In-Style USA Inc. in Carlstadt.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Morales admitted he conspired in early February 2010 with NYPD officers and others to rob the In-Style USA warehouse. Morales stated that he was recruited by one of the other conspirators the day before the robbery took place to participate in the robbery in exchange for a payment of $2,500. Morales admitted that during the course of the robbery the NYPD officers entered the warehouse office and restrained 11 employees as other conspirators loaded hundreds of boxes of perfume onto trucks that were used to transport the stolen perfume.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Walls sentenced Morales to three years of supervised release. A universal restitution hearing before Judge Walls will be held for all defendants Nov. 9, 2011.
Checo, LeBlanca, Garcia, and others have previously pleaded guilty or been convicted and have already been sentenced separately.
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: James Patton Esq., Livingston, N.J.