A member of a Brooklyn interstate theft ring that stole $361,000 in precious metals, including gold coins in an Irvington heist, has admitted responsibility for his role.
Lenard Gillis pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport stolen goods, Aug. 11 in U.S. District Court, White Plains.
From late 2019 to early 2020, Gillis, Henry Voltaire, and Ollens Jules used inside information to track shipments of precious metals and then steal the goods as they were delivered, according to court records.
The conspirators stole $82,000 in gold coins in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania; $70,000 in gold coins in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania; $133,000 in palladium in Conyers, Georgia; and $60,000 in gold coins and a bottle of Belvine single barrel Scotch whiskey, aged 25 years and worth $675, in Irvington.
Victims ordered precious metals from a Canadian retailer that kept the goods in a storage facility in Inwood, Manhattan. A security company removed the metals from a vault, packaged them, and arranged for a delivery company to ship packages to customers.
The thieves obtained advance notice of the destinations and the tracking number assigned to the shipments, according to court records.
They monitored the progress of the shipments, timed their travel to arrive at the destinations shortly before the delivery trucks, posed as the customers, and took the packages. In the Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania theft, the package was taken by force.
Investigators used surveillance videos at the victims’ homes, the suspects’ cell phone data, WhatsApp exchanges, and license plate readers to reconstruct messages and movements.
In the Hollidaysburg theft, for instance, Voltaire and Gillis discussed a co-conspirator who was going to buy the stolen goods from them. Gillis, according to the criminal complaint, was impatient because he owed money to a loan shark. And Voltaire cautioned him not to contact the co-conspirator, in case law enforcement was monitoring their conversations.
Voltaire pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to transport stolen goods. U.S. District Judge Nelson S. Román sentenced him on April 23 to time served and five years of supervision, including 18 months of home confinement, and ordered him to forfeit $361,000. The case against Ollens Jules is pending.
Gillis is scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 20.
