"Operation Jacked" took down scheme to send stolen cars to West Africa, cops say
Kurtis Bossie and Jim J. Bryant Jr. TRENTON -- Two men charged in a 2014 crackdown on an international ring that shipped stolen cars abroad admitted Friday to their roles in the scheme, authorities said.
Newark residents Kurtis Bossie and Jim J. Bryant, Jr., both 24, pleaded guilty to first-degree conspiracy and carjacking charges in Superior Court in Union County.
They were two of 30 men charged following "Operation Jacked," a 10-month investigation led by the by the state Division of Criminal Justice and the New Jersey State Police that recovered 160 stolen cars worth more than $8 million, according to the state Attorney General's Office.
Bossie faces 18 years in prison and Bryant faces 10 for participating in the Essex County carjacking ring, which targeted high-end luxury vehicles from manufacturers including Mercedes Benz, Porsche, Jaguar and Aston Martin, authorities said.
International luxury carjacking ring busted
Police say many of the cars were taken at gun or knifepoint and shipped from Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal to West Africa, where they can fetch twice their retail value. Authorities broke up a similar ring targeting cars along the Route 17 corridor in northern New Jersey last fall.
Bossie and Bryant are scheduled for sentencing on April 15.
S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.