March 31, 11

NEWS / Essex County Man Pleads Guilty to Fencing a Luxury Automobile

TRENTON Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Division of Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor announced that an Essex County man pleaded guilty today for his role in trafficking what he believed was a stolen luxury automobile.

According to Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Riza Dagli, Ikim Williams, 38, of Newark, pleaded guilty to an accusation charging him with third-degree fencing before Superior Court Judge Michael Petrolle in Essex County.

Judge Petrolle scheduled sentencing for May 9. Under the plea agreement, the state will recommend that Williams be sentenced to state prison. Third-degree crimes carry a maximum sentence of five years in state prison and a criminal fine of up to $15,000.

In pleading guilty, Williams admitted that on April 22, 2010, he trafficked in, or supervised the trafficking of, a 2010 BMW 650i, belonging to BMW of North America. Williams believed that the BMW, which was on loan to the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor as part of an undercover operation, had been stolen. Williams admitted that he arranged for Ibn Traynham to purchase the car for $3,000.

Traynham was sentenced on Jan. 12 to six years in state prison. The sentence is based on Traynham’s Sept. 22 guilty plea to an accusation which charged him with leading an auto theft trafficking network, a second-degree crime.

Detective Jarek Pyrzanowski and Deputy Attorney General Nicole D. Rizzolo were assigned to the investigation. Rizzolo represented the state at the guilty plea hearing. Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Dagli thanked the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department for its assistance in the investigation.

http://www.nj.gov/oag/newsreleases11/pr20110330a.html