Alleged 'James Bond Gang' Burglars Indicted

Three alleged thieves linked to Bergen County's "James Bond Gang" were indicted this week in Sussex County on charges stemming from a burglary in Sparta, the New Jersey Herald reported Thursday. 

Leevan Lawrence, 31, of Englewood, Courry Rice, 30, of Hackensack, and the crew's purported ringleader, 32-year-old Jerry Montgomery of Teaneck, were charged with third-degree burglary, third-degree theft, third-degree conspiracy to commit burglary and theft, and fourth-degree criminal mischief, according to the report. 

"I don't anticipate that we will be making a plea offer," Sussex County First Assistant Prosecutor Gregory Mueller told the newspaper. 

Montgomery was being held at the Sussex County Jail on $500,000 bail. Rice was ordered held on $200,000 and Lawrence's bail was set at $100,000. 

Sparta authorities nabbed the trio in February after getting word from a team of Bergen County investigators, including Teaneck and Englewood police, that the burglars were targeting homes in the Sussex County community, police told Patch after the arrests. 

Using a vehicle description shared by the Bergen County detectives, Sparta officers stopped a minivan the crew was riding in shortly after they had burglarized an area home, according to police. Cops found a pillow case stuffed with $2,000 in reportedly stolen jewelry at the scene. 

Montgomery has an extensive criminal record and was free on bail when he burglarized the Sparta home, authorities said. He was charged in 2011 after a high-speed chase and crash, also in Sparta. 

Police have said Montgomery is suspected in a string of burglaries across North Jersey.

Officials said the gang's criminal enterprise has been targeting high-end homes in affluent neighborhoods and their brazen acts include breaking down the front doors of homes and tearing alarm systems off of the wall so they could steal, jewelry, cash and anything of value that can be placed in a pillow case.

As the burglaries increased across the region, local law enforcement agencies banded together, sharing updated accurate intelligence along with man-power to help bring down the gang.

In Sussex County, authorities dubbed him the leader of a new incarnation of the "James Bond Gang" active in the 80s and 90s. 

The original burglary crew got its name after reportedly using a souped-up BMW outfitted with secret compartments to evade police and break into hundreds of homes across the area.