More than $100,000 worth of stolen car parts, including airbags, engines and dozens of collision radar sensors, were pulled out of a Paterson junkyard this week after a months-long investigation that stretched across several North Jersey towns. Clifton police say the raid at Fiero Lafayette Auto Wreckers on Lafayette Street led to the arrest of the business's 49-year-old operator, Wilson Castro, who is from Paterson.
Clifton officers executed the search warrant at the Lafayette Street property on Tuesday, according to Daily Voice, which reported that investigators recovered airbags, supplemental restraint system modules, Honda engines and transmissions, dashboards, trunks, doors, and 54 collision radar sensors from the site. Police say the recovered parts were linked to numerous thefts throughout northern New Jersey. Authorities identified Castro as the person responsible for operations at the business, and he was arrested at the yard the day after the warrant was executed. He now faces a charge of maintaining a facility for stolen automobile parts.
The case traces back to a pattern Clifton police noticed earlier this year: a string of vehicle break-ins that particularly targeted airbags and collision sensors. Detective Nicholas Garruto reviewed theft reports, related arrests, and similar cases in other towns as the pattern emerged, the outlet's report notes, and patrol officers and investigators from other agencies supplied leads that eventually produced enough evidence for a court-approved search warrant.
A Summer of Airbag and Sensor Thefts Across North Jersey
The Paterson raid follows an intensive summer wave of Honda and Acura break-ins across Clifton and Newark. In August, Clifton police charged two men in connection with 39 vehicle burglaries across the city that specifically targeted Honda and Acura driver-side airbags, according to News 12 New Jersey, which reported that each airbag costs between $1,000 and $1,500 to replace.
Around the same time, the Newark Department of Public Safety issued a public alert warning drivers of late-model Honda and Acura vehicles about a surge in radar sensor thefts. As reported by Shore News Network, thieves have been selling the stolen sensors online for as little as $100 to $150 while leaving owners with replacement bills exceeding $1,000. Local law enforcement reporting from June documented that thieves can unclip front-grille radar sensors from late-model Hondas and Acuras in as little as five seconds, without needing key access or breaking a window.
Multiple Agencies Joined the Investigation
The operation that led to Castro's arrest involved the Passaic County Sheriff's Office, the Paterson Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, the National Insurance Crime Bureau, and police departments from Wayne, Teaneck and Englewood. The involvement of federal Homeland Security Investigations agents is consistent with the agency's broader role in North Jersey chop shop cases; the agency maintains a specialized Auto Export Crimes Task Force at Port Newark aimed at intercepting stolen vehicles and parts hidden inside shipping containers bound for overseas resale, according to the office of U.S. Representative Josh Gottheimer. Whether the parts recovered at the Lafayette Street yard were destined for domestic resale or an export pipeline has not been detailed.
Robert Anderson said the investigation remains ongoing. The New Jersey State Police Auto Theft Task Force, which relies on inter-agency staffing agreements that assign municipal officers from departments across Passaic, Bergen and Essex counties to conduct joint long-term investigations, reflects the kind of multi-jurisdictional model used to trace cross-town parts distribution networks, according to the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General.
Junkyard License Traces Back to 2025
Municipal records show Castro's connection to the Lafayette Street property predates the raid by more than a year. On May 20, 2025, the Paterson City Council approved a resolution authorizing the renewal and person-to-person transfer of a motor vehicle junkyard license for 47 Lafayette Street to Castro under Fiero Lafayette Auto Wreckers Inc., with the license transferred to him from Lafayette Auto Sales, Inc. in the city's 4th Ward, per City of Paterson records.
Statewide, auto thefts in New Jersey have trended downward, falling from 16,694 in 2023 to 14,755 in 2024 following expanded multi-agency task force operations and automated license plate reader camera deployments, according to the same attorney general's office data. Still, the Paterson case shows how parts theft rings have adapted, targeting specific high-resale components rather than entire vehicles.
Legal Exposure Under New Jersey's Fencing Statute
Castro's charge of maintaining a facility for stolen automobile parts falls under New Jersey's fencing statute, N.J.S.A. 2C:20-7.1, which penalizes operating a facility for dealing in stolen property based on the aggregate value of the goods involved, according to the New Jersey Legislature. With more than $100,000 in parts recovered at the site, that aggregate value could carry significant weight in any future proceedings.
Castro was transferred to the Passaic County Sheriff's Office corrections hub following his arrest. Passaic County does not house pre-trial detainees overnight at local facilities in Paterson or Wayne; adult male pre-trial detainees processed through the sheriff's office corrections hub are instead transferred to the Bergen County Jail under a regional shared-services agreement, as Hoodline has previously reported. Defendants held on criminal arrest warrants in Passaic County typically receive a Public Safety Assessment ahead of a Central Judicial Processing court appearance, which is usually scheduled within 24 hours of arrest under New Jersey's criminal justice reform rules. Castro's first court appearance was pending as of this report, and he remains presumed innocent as the case proceeds.
