Five Burlco men charged in motorcycle-theft ring

Five Burlington County men have been indicted by a county grand jury for their alleged roles in a motorcycle theft ring, state authorities said yesterday.

The indictments followed an investigation by the New Jersey State Police and the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor into a group of people who were stealing motorcycles, retagging them with new vehicle identification numbers, and selling them.

In some case, the suspects were submitting phony insurance claims representing that the cycles had been stolen from their owners when they actually had been given up by their owners, authorities said.

"Frequently, insurance fraud investigations lead to evidence of stolen vehicles, as well as owner-initiated give-ups," said the state insurance fraud prosecutor, Greta Gooden Brown.

Wilson Lopez, 25, of Burlington City; Tyrone Sapp, 31, of Willingboro; and Angel Carrion 3d, 28, of Mount Holly, were charged in one indictment with conspiracy, eight counts of theft by unlawful taking, and five counts of receiving stolen property. Lopez also was charged with one count of fencing.

Also yesterday, in two separate indictments, the same Burlington County grand jury charged Neil C. Moyer, 33, of Browns Mills, with receiving stolen property and fencing, and Ian Boyington, 30, of Riverside, with receiving stolen property, alteration of a vehicle identification number, and a motor vehicle title offense.

The indictment charges that between December 2003 and June 2004, Lopez, Sapp and Carrion conspired to steal six motorcycles and two vans. The indictment also alleges that Lopez organized the fencing of a stolen motorcycle.

Moyer was charged with knowingly taking possession of a stolen motorcycle and selling it. The indictment charging Boyington alleges that he knowingly purchased a stolen motorcycle stamped with an altered vehicle identification number, and that he fraudulently titled the motorcycle.