*Correction: A previous version of this story stated that Jacqueline Reyes-Keegan was found guilty on Febuary 4, 2010. She was actually found guilty on Febuary 4, 2020.*
Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced that a woman was sentenced to state prison for her role in a theft scheme in which “straw buyers” obtained car loans and high-end cars by fraud. The leader of the scheme previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced to state prison.
Officials said Ms. Jacqueline Reyes-Keegan, 60, formerly of Fairview, now of Sherman Oaks, Calif., was sentenced to six years in state prison. She was found guilty on February 4, following a jury trial of second-degree conspiracy related to thefts from one car dealership. She was acquitted of a theft charge.
According to officials, on June 11 Reyes-Keegan pleaded guilty to an additional charge of second-degree theft by deception contained in a separate indictment involving thefts from a second dealership.
She was sentenced to six years in state prison on the trial conviction and a concurrent six years in prison on the guilty plea.
The leader of the scheme, Spencer Crump, 45, of Teaneck, pleaded guilty to second-degree conspiracy and was sentenced to five years in prison on July 12, 2019.
Another man, Abdul B. Seedat, 64, of Fairview, pleaded guilty to third-degree theft by deception and is awaiting sentencing.
Crump and a company he controlled, SLC Logistics LLC, recruited “straw buyers” with assistance from Reyes-Keegan. The scheme targeted a car dealership in Tenafly and a second dealership in Hackensack.
The trial of Reyes-Keegan related to the Tenafly dealership, where the defendants stole $275,191 in loan proceeds to purchase four luxury vehicles.
The straw buyers were promised payments from Crump to sign for the car loans, and the cars were turned over to Crump and Reyes-Keegan. There was never any intention that the loans would be paid back.
The thefts occurred between June and December 2015. Reyes-Keegan’s guilty plea related to the Hackensack dealership, where loans totaling $301,213 were fraudulently obtained to buy five vehicles. Seedat, a dealership employee, participated in that scheme.
“This prison sentence sends an important deterrent message to con artists like these defendants that prison, not profits, will be the end result of their criminal schemes,” Attorney General Grewal said.