Staten Island pair charged with torching stolen ICE car in S.J.

Two men from Staten Island remain jailed in South Jersey after allegedly stealing a car belonging to federal agents in New York and torching it along the New Jersey Turnpike in Deptford Township.

Richard F. Boyce, 18, and Jonathan A. Moe, 23, allegedly admitted to stealing a grey Chevrolet Impala on Oct. 3. The pair allegedly drove the Chevy, which belonged to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to Maryland. The next day, they headed back north on the Turnpike, said Bernie Weisenfeld, spokesman for the Gloucester County Prosecutor's office.

Why they chose to stop in Deptford Township is unclear. They drove into a wooded area off the Turnpike and set the vehicle ablaze "in order to destroy evidence," said Assistant Prosecutor Alec Gutierrez.

In a court hearing today in Woodbury, Gutierrez told Judge Paul Porreca the act of arson was "an obvious danger" to firefighters who responded to extinguish the fire. Both Moe and Boyce were charged on counts of arson, theft, criminal mischief and tampering with evidence. Gutierrez successfully argued that the men's bail of $35,000 each should not be reduced, said Weisenfeld.