Queens Fence Pleads Guilty, Sentenced to 6-½ Years in Englewood-Based Burglary Ring
By Mary K. Miraglia
HACKENSACK, N.J. (May 2, 2017) — A Queens fence, David Tadjiev who confessed to being the financier for a professional burglary / theft ring out of Englewood was sentenced Tuesday to 6-½ years in state prison.
David Tadjiev, who lives at Daffodil Ln, Staten Island, but operated his jewelry / fencing business in Queens, pleaded guilty to three counts of receiving stolen property, all second degree offenses, for a sentencing recommendation of seven years. Judge James J. Guida knocked six months off for cooperating in the investigation. The thefts spanned at least Bergen County, Essex County, Hudson and Morris and “other states,” according to Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor David Calviello.
Tadjiev, 42, apologized to the prosecutor and detective on the case. “This has gone on for way too long,” he said. “This is very embarrassing to me. I just want to go in, do my time, come home and be a better person when I come home. Hopefully I’ll be a better man.”
However, although Tadjiev professed a desire to “be a better man,” he sat through most of the sentencing hearing with his middle finger prominently displayed in the center of his forehead.
Calviello pointed to a victim statement describing the lingering effects of being burglarized. The couple said “We deal every day with the feeling of dread and gloom.
“We should feel safe and secure in our home, but we don’t. We have installed a highly sophisticated alarm system. But late at night, outside noises still haunt us. We have been robbed of the peace of mind and feeling of safety everyone is entitled to in their own home.”
“Mr. Tadjiev will be out of prison in two – three years tops,” Calviello said. “He will still be a gemologist, and an expert in that business.
“But sentencing him will have an impact. Other burglars will see this, and see that burglary results in jail.”
Calviello described a far-reaching operation with succeeding generations of criminals, going back to the prosecution of Daniel “Tokyo” Gadsen, a notorious Englewood burglar, and the so-called “James Bond gang.”
One of Tadjiev’s co-defendants, Bruce “Cap” Anderson, 50, and also of Queens (133rd Ave.),was a member of the original high-tech burglary crew. Anderson was sentenced last month to five years in state prison; he has a record of burglary offenses that goes back at least 15 years.
Other defendants in the burglary ring that originated out of Englewood and Teaneck include Jamelle L. Singletary, 28, known to law enforcement as a defendant in the 600-lb. safe burglary. Singletary was able to negotiate a plea for probation in the safe case, but was soon arrested as a participant in this six-defendant burglary conspiracy ring. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced this spring to 12 years in state prison, while his girlfriend, Janay Cole, 28, successfully negotiated a plea for guilty in return for two years supervised probation. Singletary is from Rock Creek Terrace, Englewood while Cole had a Fort Lee Rd., Teaneck address. Calviello called Cole, who prepared lists of addresses for the ring to burglarize, “peripheral.” She has previous arrests on various drug charges.
Lawal Erskine, 33, of Arlington Ave., Teaneck, pleaded guilty and was sentenced this spring to eight years in state prison, while the remaining co-defendant in the burglary ring, Jamaal T. Sermon, 33, or Main St. in Ridgefield Park, is still to be sentenced.
Guida called the plea agreement “a benefit to the defendant.” The judge said Tadjiev has a record of arrests at least back to 1998. He has no parole ineligibility, meaning he could probably be released in two years or less. He will have to pay restitution of close to $7,000 which, considering that Calviello said $75,000 in jewelry was netted from two burglaries alone, is minimal. All remaining charges were dismissed.
Tadjiev is not a U.S. citizen and would normally be eligible for deportation. But according to his lawyer, defense attorney Benjamin Morton of Englewood, he is a “citizen of nowhere” and there is not receiving country to accept him back. Tadjiev was born in Uzbekistan, which according to Wikipedia is still in existence as a “democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with a diverse cultural heritage. “ According to Morton, Tadjiev has an interview with Immigration and Customs Service once a year. Also according to Wikipedia, human rights organizations define Uzbekistan as
an authoritarian state with limited civil rights.
