A Union County man has been sentenced to 57 months in prison for his involvement in a conspiracy involving stolen vehicles. Nathaniel Bell, aged 27 from Linden, New Jersey, was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler after pleading guilty to several charges, including conspiracy to receive stolen vehicles and altering or removing vehicle identification numbers (VINs).
Bell led a criminal operation that acquired stolen vehicles from multiple states, including New Jersey, New York, and Florida. The group obtained fraudulent titles for these vehicles and altered their VINs to disguise their stolen status before selling them for profit. In some cases, the cars were sold to individuals and then stolen back to be resold.
Judge Chesler also imposed three years of supervised release on Bell and ordered him to pay restitution.
Three co-conspirators have also pleaded guilty. Johnathan Tanksley from Orange; L’Hubermane Felix from Miami; and Dayanna Sarango-Hidalgo from Newark are involved in the case. Felix received a 24-month sentence while Tanksley and Sarango-Hidalgo await sentencing.
Acting U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna credited the FBI's investigation under Acting Special Agent in Charge Terence G. Reilly in Newark for leading to this outcome. Various law enforcement agencies across multiple states assisted in the investigation.
The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Kober of the Organized Crimes/Gangs Unit in Newark.
Defense counsel is Jason F. Orlando.
