Thefts Completed in Under a Minute; $110,000 in Property Stolen
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that three men have been charged in a 201-count indictment with stealing cars and auto parts valued at over $110,000, while the value of property damaged over the course of the investigation totaled more than $114,0000.
District Attorney Clark said, “These defendants conducted this alleged conspiracy of vehicle and car part thefts with ruthless precision. They allegedly victimized approximately 50 Bronx residents, scouting locations in advance and breaking door locks or smashing windows to access the vehicles they targeted. Hard-working people were left with thousands of dollars in damage because of the greed of these defendants. I commend the NYPD Auto Crimes Unit for bringing this trio’s alleged criminal conspiracy to an end.”
District Attorney Clark said that defendants Antony Arlequin Salcedo, 27, of Paterson, New Jersey, and Roberto Castillo, 42, of the Bronx, were arraigned on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, on second-degree Grand Larceny, second-degree Criminal Possession of Stolen Property, Conspiracy and other related charges by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Pamela Goldsmith. Both defendants are due back in court October 13, 2026. The third defendant has not yet been apprehended.
According to the investigation known as “Operation Life Saver,” from May 2025 through October 2025, the three defendants were involved in approximately 50 individual thefts of vehicles, airbags and sensors that occurred in the Bronx. The crew were known to scout the location they were targeting, steal a vehicle from the street, and use the stolen vehicle to complete additional thefts of steering wheel airbags and sensors. They were fully masked with gloves and completed the thefts in under a minute. The value of property stolen over the course of the investigation totaled $110,483, while the value of property damaged totaled $114,936.
In a separate investigation that took place on March 17, 2026, officers assigned to the 45th Precinct observed Arlequin Salcedo allegedly in possession of a stolen 2022 Honda CR-V with another individual. A search of the area by the stolen vehicle resulted in the recovery of a box containing 27 airbags with an estimated value of over $25,000. The subsequent NYPD investigation determined that 12 of the airbags were linked to complaint reports made the same day within the confines of the 109th Precinct. The combined value of the stolen vehicle and the recovered airbags exceeded $50,000.
District Attorney Clark thanked NYPD Auto Crimes Unit Sergeant Brandon Gembecki, Police Officers Juan Gomez and Joseph Parisi for their work in the investigation. District Attorney Clark also thanked NYPD Police Officers Kyle Linsalata and Edwin Elvington of the 109th Precinct and Police Officer Edward Delacruz of the 45th Precinct for the March 17, 2026, arrests.
An indictment is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
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