Two men broke into a warehouse in Edison, loaded a tractor trailer with perfume worth $2.3 million, and took the goods down the New Jersey Turnpike into Delaware, authorities said.
Yunior Estevez, 33, of Hollywood, Florida, and Carlos Duvergel, 53, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, were charged with conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen property, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.
According to a criminal complaint, Duvergel, who also had an address in Miami, Florida, owned a white Freightliner tractor trailer, and Estevez worked for Duvergel driving the truck.
On Nov. 2, 2017, Duvergel rented a Chrysler minivan at a Budget car rental near the airport in Louisville, Kentucky. After renting the van, he drove to Elizabeth and booked a room at a hotel, the complaint says.
Surveillance footage at the warehouse in Edison showed the Freightliner and trailers entering the loading dock, and several men getting out of a van around midnight November 6.
By 3 a.m., Estevez was spotted on toll plaza surveillance cameras passing through Exit 1 on the Turnpike southbound into Delaware.
The men made initial appearances in U.S. District Court in Newark earlier this month. Duvergel was released on bail.
The maximum potential sentence is five years in prison for conspiracy and 10 for interstate transport of stolen property. Both charges also carry a $250,000 fine.
Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JBrandt_NJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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