What to Know
- A man, convicted for his role in the shooting of a NJ State Trooper in 1989, was arrested Monday for allegedly planning a jewelry heist
- Stanley Rogers allegedly planned to tranquilize guard securing a FedEx truck in Manhattan and steal $3 million in diamonds and jewels
- Rogers was convicted as being one of the shooters of 25-year-old NJ State Trooper Anthony DiSalvatore on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1989
A man convicted for his role in the 1989 shooting of a New Jersey State Trooper was planning a daring jewel heist that involved tranquilizing and kidnapping security guards in Manhattan and driving $3 million in precious stones to Brooklyn, a complaint filed in federal court Wednesday alleges.
Stanley Rogers, who was out on parole for the attempted murder of the trooper in Gloucester County nearly 30 years ago, was arrested by New York authorities on Monday night, according to senior law enforcement officials.
Rogers' scheme to rob a FedEx truck hauling the millions of dollars in diamonds and other precious stones was busted by an undercover NYPD detective who he had recruited to help him pull off the robbery, according to the complaint.
Rogers, 36, met with the undercover detective several times in March and told him that he was looking to get a high-powered Taser or veterinary tranquilizer to incapacitate the guards protecting a FedEx truck delivering the stones to wholesale jewelers on Fifth Avenue, the complaint says. He allegedly agreed to purchase $500 worth of veterinary sedative for use in the robbery.
According to the complaint, Rogers told the undercover detective that an employee for the firm guarding the FedEx truck was giving him information about its route and contents. He allegedly showed the detective surveillance images of the truck and its guards and told the detective he had two more conspirators involved in the plan.
The complaint says the planned robbery would go like this: After the precious stones were loaded in to the truck in Midtown, the robbers would knock out its driver and guards and load them into the back of the truck. They’d then drive the truck to a location in Brooklyn and unload the jewels.
On Monday, Rogers met one last time with the detective on Linden Boulevard in Brooklyn and told him that he suspected a member of his crew was a “rat,” according to the complaint, which says Rogers told the undercover detective he didn’t want to go back to prison and that he wanted to “get rid” of the suspected informant. He allegedly asked the undercover detective for a lethal dose of narcotics to poison the suspected informant.
Local
Rogers was arrested that day and arraigned this week. It wasn’t immediately known if he has an attorney.
Rogers was convicted in 1990 to 40 years in prison for being one of the shooters of 25-year-old New Jersey State Trooper Anthony DiSalvatore on the New Jersey Turnpike in August 1989.
According to published reports in the New York Times at the time, DiSalvatore was shot twice after stopping a car with three men inside and had to undergo surgery. The shooting took place in Gloucester County, about 25 miles from Philadelphia. Rogers was 18 years old at the time.
