New York Man Gets 33 Months for Targeting Asian Business Owners

A New York man has been sentenced to 33 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy that targeted Asian and Asian-American small business owners for burglaries, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today.

James Hurt, 48, of New York, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Evelyn Padin to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property. Judge Padin imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, from Dec. 2, 2016, to March 20, 2019, Hurt and others participated in a conspiracy to burglarize the residences of certain Asian small business owners living in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware of large sums of money, valuable jewelry, and other items, and then transport the stolen goods in interstate commerce, including to residences in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Padin sentenced Hurt to three years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited FBI Newark’s Transnational Organized Crime Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy, in Newark, with the investigation leading to the sentencing. He also thanked the South Plainfield Police Department, the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, the New Jersey State Police, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of State, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Union County Prosecutor’s Office, and numerous other police departments for their assistance.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dong Joo Lee of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Cybercrime Unit in Newark.