A relentless young thief who told authorities he has stolen at least 70 cars , crashed many of them and who recently was released from prison for car theft, was spared a return on yet another car theft charge Monday in order to participate in a rehabilitation program. Federal prosecutors argued that 23-year-old Edwin Cordero, of Bridgeport, who has admitted stealing cars since he was a young teen, should be imprisoned for five years on his latest car theft charge because he admitted committing the crime five months after he was released from a two and one-half year federal prison sentence — for stealing cars. Federal authorities have said Cordero and others like him have been involved for years in what has become known as “car-checking,” “jigging,” and “jugging” — prowling affluent beach communities, usually, after midnight, for luxury cars in which the owners have left, keys, fobs and valuables.
Youths involved in aggressive auto thefts occasionally find more cars in a single night than they are able to drive away, so they take the key fobs and plot locations on cellphone map applications in order to return. Once they have the cars, prosecutors said the thieves “sell, trade or pawn” anything of value found in the cars, and then rent or sell the cars to others for use in new crimes, according to information presented in court..
In recent years, crimes committed by then teen’s such as Cordero have been part of a debate in the state courts and the legislature about youth crime, juvenile justice and, in particular, how harshly or even if teens and other young people responsible for serious, repeated crimes should be punished. Federal prosecutors said Cordero has been involved in police pursuits and crashes, some resulting in injuries. Once, after stealing a high end sports car in Rhode Island he and a friend led police in an on-again, off-again police chase across Connecticut that sent another motorist to the hospital before ending in a crash in Bridgeport, where Cordero tried to jump into another stolen car he had stashed.
Cordero’s federal public defender argued to Judge Victor Bolden that her client should be shown leniency so he can participate in an inpatient substance abuse, mental health and rehabilitative program at Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown. The defense argued in a memo to the court that Cordero’s recidivism resulted from a horrific upbringing that included a heroin addicted parent, physical abuse, homelessness, a frequently interrupted education and impeded mental development caused by non-stop trauma. He has been imprisoned for more than 11 months while awaiting sentencing and more prison would only further impede his brain development, the defense argued.
His lawyer said Cordero has expressed a desire to become an auto mechanic. Prosecutors were dismissive of the argument and called Cordero a menace to the public..
“The defense memorandum argues that Mr. Cordero’s developing brain is partly to blame for his actions; Mr. Cordero notes that studies have shown that the brain continues to develop on average into a person’s mid-20s,” the prosecution wrote in a memo of its own.
“Those studies would suggest that Mr. Cordero needs additional time in custody to complete the development of his brain so he will pose less of a threat to the public.” As a teen, between 2014 and 2018, Cordero was referred to juvenile court 16 times.
He was detained four times, once for 18 months in the custody of the state Department of Children and Families, for burglary and robbery charges. Prosecutors told the court that in March 2018, Cordero was arrested for running a stop sign in Bridgeport in a stolen Kia. A week later, he got a juvenile summons for stealing a Chevrolet in Stamford.
Two weeks after that, he had been involved in two traffic accidents, one in a stolen car, and served a 24-day sentence. “As an adult, Mr. Cordero continued this pattern of misconduct,” according to the prosecution memo.
By 2020, the proliferation of organized car thefts attracted the attention of the FBI, which caught Cordero and resulted in the imposition of a significant adult prison sentence. Cordero and then 22-year old Christopher Mulkern “stole a Porsche, used it to steal another car, then crashed the Porsche into innocent people’s cars, sending one person to the hospital, during a chase with the Stratford police,” the prosecution wrote in its memo. “These stolen vehicles were a drop in the bucket for Mr.
Cordero, who admitted to having stolen dozens before,” the prosecution wrote. “On April 18, 2022, Mr. Cordero was sentenced to 30 months of imprisonment, of which he served approximately 26 months before beginning a term of supervised release.
Within months of his release, Mr. Cordero resumed the same criminal activity.”.
