Million-dollar scam by NJ crew targeting popular home goods retailer, feds say

🚚 NJ suspect owned trucking firm
🚫 Accused of faked deliveries
💰 Scammed millions, police say

A Middlesex County man is the third New Jersey person facing federal charges in a multi-million-dollar scam of a popular home goods company.

Jose Pena, 46, of Monroe, was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He appeared in Newark federal court on Wednesday.

Pena owned and operated a trucking firm that subcontracted with a national transportation and logistics company for deliveries in the New Jersey and New York metropolitan area, out of a Williams-Sonoma distribution center in Cranbury.

Between June 2018 and September 2020, Pena plotted with others who worked for Williams-Sonoma and “Company 1” to overbill them for more than $3.6 million in phony deliveries and services, Acting U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna said.

In exchange for helping, Pena allegedly paid participants lavish kickbacks including cash, a Chevy Tahoe, tickets for sporting events like Knicks games and a Yankees playoff game — and a Rolex Submariner watch priced at $13,400, court documents show.

An internal audit ultimately revealed the fraud and the companies no longer wanted to work with Pena.

Starting in September 2021, Pena hid his interest in another trucking firm that also worked for Williams-Sonoma, prosecutors said.

He allegedly kept scamming the company for made-up deliveries through June 2024, resulting in nearly $1 million in additional losses.

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Two of Pena’s co-conspirators pleaded guilty last month, separately in Trenton federal court, to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Raymond DeLeon, 38, of Ridgefield Park, worked as an operations general manager for “Company 1.”

DeLeon admitted to receiving over $200,000 in kickback payments, in exchange for his role in submitting the phony billing requests.

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Cintia Elaxcar, 40, of Perth Amboy, worked as a billing and dispatch manager for “Company 1.”

She admitted to receiving over $435,000 in kickback payments, in exchange for her role in the overbilling scheme.

Conviction of conspiracy to commit wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

It also is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gain or loss from the offense, whichever is greatest.

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