Now that summer has arrived and many New Jersey residents are enjoying the warm weather on their boats, I would like to revisit a story I read about in April about a young man charged with the theft of a 26-foot Regulator. 

After seven months of investigative work, the Old Bridge police were finally able to bring charges against a Linden man for the theft of a $200,000 boat from the township’s marina.  The theft occurred on July 31, 2010 and days after the Green Brook police found the boat stripped of its twin 250-horsepower engines and GPS.  Michael Loureiro, 24, surrendered to the police on March 25, 2011 and was later released after posting a $75,000 bail.

For additional information on this story, please see the Star Ledger article.

N.J.S.A 2C:20-3 of the New Jersey Criminal Code makes it a crime for an individual to unlawfully take or exercise unlawful control over the property of another.  The accused must have intended to deprive the true owner of the property and must have had knowledge that he was not entitled to take, exercise control over or dispose of the property.  An indictment for unlawful taking can come in three different grades.  The grading of the offense is determined by the amount or the property involved: (a) it is a second degree offense if the value involved is $75,000 or more; (b) it is a third degree offense is the value involved is between $500 and $75,000; and (C) it is a fourth degree offense if the value involved is between $200 and $500.  The sentencing for a crime is determined by the degree of the offense committed: (a) if it is a second degree offense then you will be facing a sentence of 5 to 10 years in prison; (b) if it is a third degree offense then you will be facing a sentence of up to 5 years in prison; and (3) if it is a fourth degree offense then you will be facing a sentence of up to 18 months in prison. 

Loureiro now faces 5-10 years in jail for theft of movable property and 5-10 years in jail for conspiracy to commit theft, which are both second-degree offenses.