VCJC News & Notes 8/21/2026

 

Van Cortlandt Jewish Center

News and Notes

Here's this week's edition of the VCJC News and Notes email. We hope you enjoy it and find it useful!

Shabbos schedule

Shabbos information is, as always, available on our website, both in the information sidebar and the events calendar.

Here are the times you need:  

Shabbos Candles Friday 8/21/26 @ 7:27 pm

Shabbos Ends Saturday 8/22/26 @ 8:30 pm

If you require an aliyah or would like to lead services, read from the torah or haftorah, please speak to one of the gabbaim.

Our enhanced kiddush has been a popular hit.  Join us for services and stay to enjoy the kiddush and the company.

Shabbos parsha

Parashat Ki Teitzei

This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Ki Teitzei (read on 22 August 2026).

Ki Teitzei (“When You Go Out”) contains numerous laws, more than appear in any other Torah portion. These include laws about the treatment of a captive woman, returning lost objects, forbidden mixtures, the erection of a rooftop fence, rape, collateral, and workers’ wages. [1]

• Torah reading: Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19

• Commentary and Divrei Torah

Reminders and Announcements

• Garage Sale and Ice Cream Social, August 30
  On Sunday, August 30, we will be having a combined Garage Sale and Ice Cream Social.  
  Garage Sale: 10 AM to 4 PM. No admission charge. A wide variety of items from furniture to sports equipment to toys to collectibles and more!
  
  
  Ice Cream Social: 2 PM to 5 PM. No admission charge. Come enjoy some ice cream, on us, and socialize with your friends and neighbors.
  
  
  50/50 Raffle: Participate throughout the day.  Winning tickets will be drawn at 4:30 PM.
  
  
  Vote for your flavor! Five of the favorites will be served. Vote by:

  • phone (718) 884-6105

  • email: info@vcjewishcenter.org

  • mail: Van Cortlandt Jewish Center, 3880 Sedgwick Avenue, Bronx, NY 10463

  • in person: Drop off a note at the synagogue office.

    Deadline to vote: 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 27, 2026.

• Can you help?

  • We need volunteers to: help sell items, help set up for the event, help put prices on items, and serve ice cream.  If you can do any of that, please let us know - call the office, email, or come in person to the office.
    

• Neil Harrow’s unveiling, Sunday 8/23, 10 AM
  Beth El - Cedar Park Cemetery

  735 Forest Avenue

  Paramus, NJ

  Grave Site

  Block 18, Sec. 2, Grave 12

  Meet at the parking lot of the Cemetery before 10 AM.
  
  

• Save the date: Kristallnacht observance and lecture, Sunday Nov. 8

  
  

  The Van Cortlandt Jewish Center will be holding its annual Kristallnacht Commemoration Program with speaker Larry Hartstein.  More info to follow. 
  

• Thank you! 
  

  The Van Cortlandt Jewish Center wants to thank all the people who generously donated towards the purchase of our new siddurim and chumashim.  We have begun using them and look forward to using them for many years to come.
  

• 10 minutes of learning a day

  
  

  
  

  Free Online Video Classes on the Talmud: 10 Minutes a day brought to you by the Orthodox Union. Get a background lesson on the entire Talmud in 40 weeks. No Hebrew knowledge required. Click on the Link Below for more information

  https://talmuddaily.org/?utm_source=ou&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=launch26&utm_content=full-list

  
  

• What works for you?
  Please Help Us Plan for Events
  We have created a survey, Van Cortlandt Jewish Center Community Event Planning Survey, to help us set the direction for our activities.  We’d really appreciate your taking a few minutes to fill it in. Here’s the link: SURVEY
  
  

• The VCJC Chavurah
  The VCJC Chavurah meets every Tuesday Night at 7:30 PM.  All are welcome to join us as we continue to learn together.

  No cost to attend and no prior experience is needed.

  If you are interested in learning torah with a group of fellow members of your community, but want more details, contact the VCJC office at 718-884-6105 or info@vcjewishcenter.org, or speak to Stuart Harris or Matthew Hartstein after davening on Shabbat morning.
  
  

• VCJC Merch!

  We now have merchandise available with the VCJC logo and, in some cases, sayings.  We have shirts, hats, mugs, refrigerator magnets, and tote bags. These are provided through a Print On Demand (POD) model - so you pick what you like and order it.  It is then made to order and shipped directly to you.
  You can see an overview and some additional information on our VCJC Shop page.  You can go directly to the store itself to see all the things available, select sizes and colors, and get ready to flaunt your association with VCJC.

  
  

• VCJC is now active on social media - follow us!
  We have launched both a Facebook page and an Instagram page.  Both have a nice amount of content already and we are planning both regular posts and a greater variety going forward.  Please take a look and follow us! Links are below.

  
  

• You can do it! Give VCJC a boost!  Leave a (positive) review for us on Google
  -->You can do this!  We know you can! YES, YOU!

  The VCJC is working to build and grow for its next century in Van Cortlandt Village.  If you have had a good experience with us or recognize our value to the community, please consider telling the world about it.  Go to our Google Business Profile and leave a review.  Thanks!  

Please help with information about buildings

As part of rebuilding the membership and congregation, the Board of Trustees would like your help. There are a lot of either new or renovated buildings being put up in our catchment area. We would like to seek the cooperation of the owners / developers of those properties in publicizing these opportunities to live near an orthodox synagogue.  If you are aware of any of these buildings, please provide what information you can about them.  This could include the address, any contact information that might be posted, and any information about the building itself (size, type, etc.). Additionally, if you are aware of vacancies in existing buildings or of houses for sale, please let us know about that as well.

Our mailing address is:
Van Cortlandt Jewish Center
3880 Sedgwick Ave
Bronx, NY 10463

HSI Investigation Leads to Voter Fraud Charges Against Chinese National

 

The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the following statement after an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) led to charges against a Chinese national for voter fraud.

On August 19, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts announced that Yupeng Sun, a Chinese national, had been charged with fraudulent voter registration and fraudulent voting. According to court filings, Sun submitted an online voter registration in Massachusetts on October 10, 2024, impersonating another Chinese national residing in the state who had legal permanent resident (LPR) status. Sun then submitted an early voting ballot at Malden City Hall for the 2024 presidential election on October 31, while still impersonating the victim.

After registering to vote and casting a ballot, Sun submitted several anonymous tips to HSI and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) accusing the victim he was impersonating of “illegally voting in the 2024 U.S. presidential election” and stating that his victim “is not a U.S. citizen but a permanent resident.” He is also accused of impersonating the victim and the victim’s wife in April 2024 when he submitted fraudulent forms to USCIS requesting to abandon their LPR status. This resulted in the victim and his wife, also a Chinese national, being placed into removal proceedings in June 2024 after returning from an international trip.

HSI New England arrested Sun on August 19. The charges of fraudulent registration and fraudulent voting each provide for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The defendant is subject to deportation upon completion of any sentence imposed.

“This criminal illegal alien allegedly committed voter fraud so he could vote in the 2024 presidential election,” said DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin. “The charges in this case are the result of the hard work of the men and women of HSI and our federal partners. Election security is national security. Only American citizens should be electing American leaders.”

Jeff Grimming, Acting Special Agent in Charge of HSI New England, and U.S. Attorney Leah Foley made the announcement. Valuable assistance in the investigation was provided by the Lexington Police Department and the Andover Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Nagelberg of the Major Crimes Unit is prosecuting the case.

This is part of the Trump Administration’s broader focus on stopping non-citizens from voting in American elections. Recent examples include:

• In August, Carlos Felipe Jaramillo-Grajales, a criminal illegal alien from Colombia, was sentenced to three years in prison after an ICE investigation led to him pleading guilty to committing identity theft to illegally vote in elections for more than 20 years. 
• In July, HSI arrested Marian Charitun, an alien from Slovakia who had illegally voted in the 2022 election in New Jersey.
• In July, an HSI investigation led to the arrest of Denise Nataly Migliore, an alien from Australia who illegally voted in the 2022 and 2024 elections in Louisiana.
• In May, DHS and the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced charges against four non-citizens in New Jersey who illegally voted in federal elections and made false statements while applying for U.S. citizenship.
• In April, Jose Ceballos, an alien from Mexico, pleaded guilty to THREE counts of disorderly election conduct after illegally voting multiple times and falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen in Kansas.
• In March, ICE arrested Mahady Sacko, a criminal illegal alien from Mauritania who had been illegally voting in the United States since 2008.

In recent months, DHS has taken additional steps to safeguard the integrity and security of American elections. These measures include:

• In July, Secretary Mullin sent letters to secretaries of state in several states across the country warning that tens of thousands of non-citizens are registered to vote.
• In July, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced that grant recipients will be required to take several key actions on election integrity.
• In June, DHS directed ICE to enforce stricter penalties for non-citizens who illegally vote in American elections, including deportation.

DHS Asks Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger to Not Release Criminal Illegal Alien Charged with Fatally Stabbing a Woman in Fairfax County, Virginia

 

This criminal illegal alien was RELEASED into the country by the Biden Administration

The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the following statement after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged a detainer asking sanctuary politicians to not release a criminal illegal alien charged with murder after allegedly stabbing a woman to death in Fairfax County, Virginia.

According to local reporting, the incident took place on August 17 in a park in Great Falls, Virginia. That morning, a jogger found the body of 42-year-old Carmen Lizet Puch, who had been stabbed to death near her car and had gasoline poured on her body in an unsuccessful attempt to set her on fire. Two days later, on August 19, the Fairfax County Police Department announced the arrest of the suspect, Alexis Antonio Cedillos-Campos, a criminal illegal alien from El Salvador.

Alexis Antonio Cedillos-Campos

Cedillos-Campos now faces a charge of second-degree murder. ICE lodged a detainer with the Fairfax County Detention Center the same day Cedillos-Campos was arrested.

“This criminal illegal alien from El Salvador fatally stabbed 42-year-old Carmen Lizet Puch in a park in Virginia after he had been RELEASED into the country by the Biden Administration,” said DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin. “If it weren’t for Biden’s reckless America Last policies, this woman would still be alive and her killer wouldn’t be here. ICE is calling on Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger and Fairfax County sanctuary politicians to cooperate with ICE and commit to NOT releasing this killer from jail. Virginia sanctuary politicians must stop gambling with the lives of American citizens. Enough is enough.”

Cedillos-Campos illegally entered the United States through Texas in April 2024 and was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. He was then RELEASED into the country by the Biden Administration.

During her first days in office, Governor Spanberger signed executive orders banning state cooperation with ICE as well as terminating 287(g) state and local agreements.

Under Governor Spanberger, Virginia has become a hotbed of illegal alien crime. Some of the recent illegal alien crimes in the sanctuary state include:

• In July, ICE lodged a detainer for Nehemia Noel Fuentes-Banegas, an illegal alien from Honduras, after he was charged with attempted disarming of a law enforcement officer in Annandale, Virginia.
• In July, ICE arrested Raul Genesis Ortiz Moran, an illegal alien from Mexico, after he was charged with second-degree murder and aggravated sexual battery in the death of a 2-year-old girl in Louisa County, Virginia.
• In June, ICE lodged a detainer for a href="/news/2026/07/07/ice-lodges-detainer-asking-governor-abigail-spanberger-and-fairfax-sanctuary" target="_blank">Juan Arevalo Mendez, an illegal alien from El Salvador, after he was arrested for charges of rape and abduction in Fairfax County, Virginia.
• In June, an ICE investigation led to the sentencing of Samuel Flores de Dios, an illegal alien from Mexico, to 30 years in prison on charges of production of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
• In June, ICE lodged a detainer for Moises Domingo Rico Rosales, an illegal alien from Nicaragua, after he had been arrested for abduction of person with intent to defile and indecent exposure in Annandale, Virginia.
• In June, ICE lodged a detainer for Jose Nahun Aleman Hernandez, an illegal alien from Mexico, who was charged with molesting a 5-year-old girl in Woodbridge, Virginia.
• In June, ICE lodged a detainer for Cristian Wilfredo Alvarenga Aguilar, an illegal alien charged with carjacking, abduction, assault, and robbery in Herndon, Virginia.
• In May, Aroldo Santos-Velasques, an illegal alien from Guatemala, was sentenced in Loudoun County to 25 years in prison for sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl. 
• In May, ICE lodged a detainer for Cristian Romero Saenz-Argueta, an illegal alien from El Salvador, who was arrested in Prince William County, Virginia and charged with raping a girl under the age of 15.
• In May, ICE lodged a detainer for Jorge Enrique Garcia-Rodriguez, an illegal alien from Mexico, who was arrested in Franklin County, Virginia and charged with forcible intercourse with a victim under the age of 13 and SIX counts of possession of child pornography.
• In May, ICE arrested Eduardo Perez-Legra, an illegal alien from Cuba with prior felony convictions for drug trafficking and cocaine possession, in Newport News, Virginia.
• In May, ICE arrested Walvin Victor Hugo Garcia, an illegal alien from Guatemala, after he was released by sanctuary politicians in Fairfax County despite facing charges of raping a child under the age of 13. 
• In May, ICE arrested Josue Saul Garcia-Lopez, an illegal alien from El Salvador and MS-13 gang member, in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
• In April, Roni Mendez-Escobar, an illegal alien from Guatemala, was arrested by ICE after previously being released by Fairfax County, despite being charged with possession of child porn with intent to distribute. 
• In April, ICE lodged a detainer asking sanctuary politicians in Arlington County to not release Luzvin Orvando Garcia Moran, an illegal alien from Guatemala, after he was arrested for attempted rape.
• In April, Israel Christopher Flores-Ortiz, a criminal illegal alien from El Salvador, was convicted for NINE counts of assault and battery after he groped multiple underage girls at a high school in Fairfax County.
• In April, the Fairfax County District Attorney’s Office offered an insane plea deal of just 5 years to two illegal aliens who murdered a man at a park and walking trail in Oakton, Virginia in July of 2024.
• In April, Misael Lopez Gomez, an illegal alien from Guatemala, was arrested and charged with murder and felony child abuse after bludgeoning his own 3-month-old daughter to death in Fairfax County.
• In March, Anibal Armando Chavarria Muy, an illegal alien from Guatemala, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder after fatally stabbing a man inside his home in Bailey’s Crossroads, Virginia.
• In February, Abdul Jalloh, an illegal alien from Sierra Leone with more than 30 prior arrests, was charged with murder after fatally stabbing 41-year-old Stephanie Minter at a bus stop in Hybla Valley, Virginia.

DEA Detroit Field Division Joins U.S Attorney’s Office to Announce More than 600 Arrests in Northern Ohio Violent Crime Crackdown

Hundreds of individuals were apprehended and taken into custody throughout northern Ohio as part of a multi-agency strategic initiative to combat violent crime. The DEA Detroit Field Division was part of a multi-jurisdictional sweep across eight cities, known as Operation Northern Shield, was coordinated among federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and task forces. 

In May, June, and July, more than 600 people were arrested and nearly 200 firearms were seized along with varying amounts of fentanyl, crack cocaine, methamphetamine, cocaine, illicit drugs, and U.S. currency. Approximately 264 of these arrests came from surges into individual cities, and an additional 355 arrests were from other areas across the District.

Plans for Operation Northern Shield began in early 2026, with the goal to partner with local law enforcement agencies in a cohesive and integrated effort to target and apprehend violent fugitives in eight northern Ohio cities including Akron, Cleveland, Lorain, Youngstown, Elyria, Canton, Mansfield, and Toledo.

Fugitives were wanted for crimes of violence such as homicide, manslaughter, assault, robbery, and sex offenses. Other offenses involved human trafficking, firearms, and illegal drugs.

Overall, Operation Northern Shield yielded the following totals from May 17-July 18:

• 619 arrested 
• 684 warrants cleared
• 29 (suspected) gang members arrested
• 1.317 kg of narcotics seized (methamphetamine, cocaine, ecstasy, and fentanyl)
• 6 pounds of marijuana seized
• $120,200 in U.S. Currency seized 
• 198 firearms, 2 suppressors, 2 machine gun conversion devices, 1 inert grenade, 2 sets of ballistic body armor seized

Among those arrested who are facing federal charges are:

• Sidney Booty, 47, of Cleveland, a previously convicted felon who was allegedly found possessing an illegal firearm, a silencer, and methamphetamine which he intended to distribute and sell.
• Marcus Brown, 36, and Terence Montgomery, 32, both of Cleveland, were allegedly part of a drug conspiracy that trafficked fentanyl, crack, and cocaine. They are also charged with interstate transportation in aid of racketeering. 

Candidate for New York City Public Advocate Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud

 

Angela Aquino Attempted to Defraud the New York City Campaign Finance Board of $1 Million in Public Matching Funds

Angela Aquino, a 2025 candidate for New York City Public Advocate, pleaded guilty to wire fraud in connection with her scheme to defraud New York City’s campaign finance system to obtain public matching funds.  The proceeding was held before United States Magistrate Judge Vera Scanlon.  When sentenced, Aquino faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. 

Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Nadia I. Shihata, Commissioner, New York City Department of Investigation (DOI); and James C. Barnacle, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the guilty plea.

“The defendant, a former candidate for city office, admitted that she attempted to defraud New York City of $1 million in public funds,” stated United States Attorney Nocella.  “Her brazen efforts threaten the integrity of our local democratic processes.”

“New Yorkers deserve a baseline of integrity from candidates running for public office, an attribute this defendant – through her actions – demonstrated she clearly lacked,” stated DOI Commissioner Shihata.  “As a candidate for NYC Public Advocate, this defendant attempted to fraudulently obtain $1 million in public matching funds by obscuring the true source of the funds flowing into her campaign committee’s bank account.  The defendant also used some of her campaign funds to pay her personal expenses, including rent for her apartment. New York City’s Matching Funds Program is supported by taxpayer dollars, and those who seek these funds must follow the law.  I thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and the New York Office of the FBI for their partnership in protecting the integrity of our campaign finance system.”

“Angela Aquino's attempt to defraud the City of New York is disgraceful and unacceptable.  Any theft of taxpayer money will be fully investigated and prosecuted.  In support of the Vice President's Fraud Task Force, FBI New York will continue to work diligently to protect the public from fraud in all forms,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Barnacle.

New York City’s Matching Funds Program

The New York City Campaign Finance Board (CFB) offers a voluntary public-financing program matching small-dollar contributions from New York City residents to candidates for city office.  To be eligible for matching funds, candidates must meet a two-part fundraising threshold: first, they must collect a minimum number of contributions of $10 or more; and, second, they must raise a minimum amount of qualifying contributions from residents of New York City.  To be eligible for the matching funds program, a candidate for Public Advocate must have raised at least $125,000 from at least 500 qualifying contributors.  In addition, cash contributions are capped at $100 per contributor for purposes of qualifying for matching funds. 

For a candidate to apply cash contributions toward the threshold necessary to become eligible for public matching funds, a candidate’s authorized committee was required to submit contribution cards to the CFB that listed, among other information, each contributor’s name, residential address, employer, and occupation, as well as the date and amount of contribution.  The contribution cards also had to be signed by the contributors. 

Candidates were prohibited from giving false information to the CFB.  Candidates were also prohibited from using public matching funds for purposes that were illegal, improper, or not in furtherance of the candidate’s nomination or election.  Violation of these prohibitions would render the candidate ineligible to receive public matching funds.

Once a candidate met the eligibility requirements to join the program, the CFB would provide the campaign with public funds at a matching rate of $8 to $1.  In other words, if a candidate raised $125,000 toward the fundraising threshold, the CFB would provide that candidate with $1 million in public matching funds.

The Fraudulent Scheme

Aquino engaged in a scheme to obtain $1 million in public matching funds, knowing that her campaign committee was not entitled to such funds.  In particular, she took numerous steps artificially to inflate the deposits into her campaign committee’s bank account to make it appear that the committee had met the $125,000 threshold for public funds.  In fact, very little of the deposits were eligible contributions from New Yorkers. 

In the first months of 2025, Aquino’s personal bank account received more than $130,000 that originated from the Philippines.  Of this amount, at least $34,000 was a loan to Aquino from a contact there.  Aquino, with others, repeatedly withdrew funds from her personal bank account in cash and deposited cash into her campaign committee’s bank account.  These contributions were then identified to the CFB as contributions from residents of New York City that were eligible for public matching funds.  Contribution cards submitted in support of these supposed contributions, which purported to identify the contributors and included their personal identifying information and their signatures, were falsified. 

Aquino cycled funds out of, and back into, the campaign committee’s bank account, sometimes using bank accounts of friends and associates as intermediary accounts to obscure the true source of the funds.  The purpose of cycling the funds in this way was to make the total amount of deposits into the campaign committee’s account appear higher, such that the total contributions would appear to meet the CFB’s threshold. 

Aquino used funds from the campaign committee account to pay for her personal expenses, including the rent for her apartment, while falsely reporting to the CFB that the payments were for legitimate campaign expenses.  Aquino also lied to federal agents concerning her relationship with the recipients of some of these expenditures.  For example, Aquino told federal agents that her landlords helped with petitions and with campaigning, justifying the campaign’s payments to them. In fact, Aquino’s landlords had nothing to do with her campaign.

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Public Integrity Section.  

Pennsylvania Man Indicted for Conspiring to Defraud the United States

 

Allegedly Failed to Pay $7 Million in Employment Taxes

A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania returned a superseding indictment charging Jimmy Fabian of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with engaging in a scheme to underpay over $7 million in employment taxes owed by his business and filing false tax returns for the business. This indictment supersedes an earlier, August 2025 indictment that charged Fabian and two co-conspirators.

According to court documents, Fabian was the president, owner and operator of Celebes Staffing Services Inc. (Celebes), a labor-leasing company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which provided temporary workers to client businesses for a fee, including Companies A, B, and C. From approximately in or about September 2020 through at least in or about June 2024, Fabian and two co-conspirators engaged in a scheme to fraudulently underpay employment taxes by underreporting the number of Celebes’ employees, many of whom were not authorized to work in the United States, and the wages and compensation paid to them. Fabian also caused the preparation and filing of false corporate income tax returns for Celebes, in which he substantially underreported Celebes’ gross receipts and disguised his 100 percent ownership of Celebes by listing a co-conspirator as 50 percent owner. 

Fabian is charged with one count of conspiring to defraud the United States, thirteen counts of willfully failing to collect, account for, and pay over employment taxes, and four counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of false tax returns. If convicted, Fabian faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for the conspiracy charge and for each count of willfully failing to collect, account for, and pay over employment taxes, and three years in prison for each count of aiding and assisting in preparation and presentation of false tax returns.

IRS Criminal Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations are investigating the case.

Assistant Deputy Chief Thomas F. Koelbl and Trial Attorney Joseph D. G. Castro of the Criminal Division’s Tax Section are prosecuting the case. 

On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division (Fraud Division). The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department’s work to combat fraud supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Six Defendants Charged With Million Dollar Rental Car And Identity Theft Scheme

 

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jamie McDonald, Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), James C. Barnacle, Jr., and Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), Jessica S. Tisch, announced charges against KAHEEM ARCHER, CALVIN BENT, CHRISTINE FERGUSON, LAMONT MARTIN, AJANI MCCHRISTON, and CHAD REED in connection with a multi-year scheme to steal rental cars worth millions of dollars using stolen credit cards and forged driver’s licenses.  Each of the six defendants is charged with conspiracy to receive, possess, and dispose of stolen vehicles; conspiracy to commit wire fraud; and aggravated identity theft.  All six defendants were arrested and presented in Manhattan federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert W. Lehrburger. 

“Identity theft has no place in our community, and it impacts and harms New Yorkers and others in many different ways,” said U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald.  “As alleged, the six defendants charged today traveled up and down the East Coast, picking up rental cars using credit cards obtained with the identities of innocent victims to further a variety of schemes, including the use of rental cars to commit violent crimes in our community.  These charges not only bring that scheme to an end but also send a broader message that the women and men of this Office, in coordination with our law enforcement partners, will continue to investigate and pursue criminals who seek to use the identities of unwitting and innocent victims to enrich themselves and commit crimes.” 

“The alleged rental car and identify theft scheme in this investigation resulted in the loss of millions of dollars from innocent victims,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle, Jr.  “Crimes involving stolen identities and large-scale financial loss undermine public trust and cause harm to those impacted.  In support of the Vice President's Fraud Task Force, FBI New York will continue to work diligently to protect the public from fraud in all its forms.  

“As alleged in the complaint, these six defendants used stolen credit cards and forged driver’s licenses to steal millions of dollars in stolen vehicles, some of which were later used in violent crimes,” said NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch.  “We shut this criminal operation down and remind those who attempt to use our city as a playground for criminal activity that they will face consequences. Thank you to our NYPD investigators whose relentless work dismantled this scheme, and our partners at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York for ensuring that these individuals are held accountable. 

As alleged in the Complaint and other public filings:(1)

From at least September 2023 to the present, ARCHER, BENT, FERGUSON, MARTIN, MCCHRISTON, and REED stole rental cars across the Northeastern United States from multiple rental car companies by using stolen credit cards and fraudulent driver’s licenses bearing the defendants’ photographs but victims’ names.  For over three years, the defendants executed the charged scheme by reserving and picking up rental cars under stolen identities, charging the rentals to the victims’ credit cards, and then transporting the cars to the Bronx or Manhattan, New York, often on the same day.  Multiple defendants carried out these thefts in close succession at the same rental locations.  None of the cars were returned, and several were later recovered in connection with violent crimes or found operated by suspects of violent crimes. 

ARCHER, 29, of Brooklyn, New York; BENT, 24, of Brooklyn; FERGUSON, 27, of Brooklyn; MARTIN, 26, of Staten Island, New York; MCCHRISTON, 33, of Brooklyn; and REED, 27, of Brooklyn, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to receive, possess, and dispose of stolen vehicles, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory sentence of two years in prison.

The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by a judge.

Mr. McDonald praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI and NYPD, including the FBI / NYPD New York Joint Major Theft Task Force.  Mr. McDonald also thanked the Northampton, Massachusetts Police Department; Verona, New Jersey Police Department; Collegeville, Pennsylvania Police Department; Newark, Delaware Police Department; Greenwich, Connecticut Police Department; Delaware State Police, New York State Police, and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection for their valuable assistance.

The case is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Leslie B. Arffa and Matthew T. Souza are in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

1.  As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Complaint and the description of the Complaint set forth herein constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.