Fake broker scam busted mid-theft: $273,000 in seafood was being unloaded into a box truck

North Arlington, New Jersey, police halted a cargo theft in progress on Oct. 3, catching two people transferring pallets of frozen seafood from a refrigerated tractor trailer into a box truck, according to CDLLife on Oct. 7.

The driver had received phone calls and text messages from someone claiming to be a freight broker associated with the load, instructing the driver to divert a portion of the 29,000 pounds of frozen shrimp, salmon, conch meat, and branzino to North Arlington, where the cargo would supposedly be transferred to another truck.

When the driver arrived, Jonathan Pollaguari, 18, of the Bronx, and a juvenile pulled up in a box truck and began moving pallets. As the transfer continued, its legitimacy was questioned — and investigators determined the person directing the transfer was not affiliated with the legitimate freight broker and had allegedly impersonated a company representative to fraudulently obtain the shipment.

Police stopped the transfer and arrested both suspects. The recovered cargo is valued at more than $273,000. Pollaguari faces charges of second-degree theft by deception, second-degree false representation, second-degree conspiracy, and first-degree employing a juvenile in the commission of a crime, plus motor vehicle summonses for driving without a license, having no insurance card, and operating an uninsured vehicle.