Photo Courtesy of U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of NY
Route Boys’ members used social media to sell the controlled substances and frequently displayed images of themselves possessing firearms.
By Forum Staff
A federal grand jury in Central Islip recently returned an 18-count superseding indictment charging Carlos Acevedo, Ramon Collado, Naresh Deonarrain, Jason Liriano, Charlie Maisonet, Cavier Nedrick, Eric Nunez, Jose Rosado, Alberto Santiago and Jeffrey Vargas with conspiracy to commit burglary involving controlled substances. The superseding indictment also charged the defendants, along with Jonathan Santiago, with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, including ecstasy and fentanyl. Furthermore, the superseding indictment charged Luis Cerda, along with Collado, Liriano, Rosado and Alberto Santiago, with conspiracy to commit bank larceny. The defendants were also charged with several related firearms counts, including possessing a ghost gun.
Cerda, Rosado, and Santiago are Queens residents.
According to court filings, the defendants are members and associates of a burglary and drug trafficking organization known as the “Route Boys.” Over the past two years, the defendants, along with other associates of the Route Boys, committed dozens of burglaries of pharmacies and convenience stores in Nassau, Suffolk, Brooklyn, Queens, Westchester and Rockland counties, as well as in New Jersey and Connecticut. They then used social media to sell the controlled substances and frequently displayed images of themselves possessing firearms.
As alleged in the indictment and other court filings, the Route Boys began committing burglaries in late 2020, breaking into convenience stores, check-cashing businesses, laundromats and restaurants, stealing primarily cash and tobacco products. In addition, they often stole free-standing ATMs, forcing them open and stealing the cash from inside the machine. The Route Boys then began targeting small “mom-and-pop” pharmacies throughout the Tri-State area.
Their pattern remained consistent throughout their crime wave: three to four participants would travel to multiple locations in quick succession on a given night, often in a stolen car, with stolen plates that were routinely switched to avoid detection, and then break into the business, either by smashing glass with crowbars, rocks or grinders. Once inside, the defendants or their associates quickly stole controlled substances – including oxycodone, alprazolam and promethazine-codeine cough syrup – and moved on to the next crime, often burglarizing several locations on a single night. After the Route Boys committed a crime, they routinely fled in stolen luxury vehicles at extremely high rates of speed, often crashing into other vehicles and endangering the lives of law enforcement officers and innocent citizens. Route
Boys’ members, including Acevedo, Collado, Deonarrain, Liriano, Maisonet, Nedrick, Nunez, Rosado, Alberto Santiago and Vargas used social media to sell the controlled substances and frequently displayed images of themselves possessing firearms, including high capacity magazines, scopes and multiple guns at once.
“The members of this gang showed no regard for the damage they caused the businesses or the danger they put people’s lives in illegally pushing drugs, all to fuel their own greed,” said FBI New York Assistant
Director-in-Charge Michael Driscoll.
If convicted, Acevedo, Collado, Deonarrain, Liriano, Maisonet, Nedrick, Nunez, Rosado, Alberto Santiago, and Vargas all face up to life imprisonment. Jonathan Santiago faces a sentence of up to 40 years’ imprisonment, and Luis Cerda faces a sentence of up to 15 years’ imprisonment.
