Brooklyn Man Pleads Guilty To Sabotaging NYPD Van, Fraud: Feds

BROOKLYN, NY — A Brooklyn man charged with cutting the brake line on an NYPD police van and running a fake car wash to get a coronavirus relief loan has pleaded guilty in both cases, prosecutors announced.

Jeremy Trapp, 24, pleaded guilty Friday to destruction of a vehicle and wire fraud for the two cases, which stemmed from his arrest last year.

Investigators who arrested Trapp for cutting the brake line on an NYPD van last summer discovered when searching his phone that he had swindled $50,000 in coronavirus relief funds by pretending to own a car wash to get a federal loan, according to officials.

“With his admissions of guilt today, Trapp will face the consequences of his flagrantly lawless and fraudulent conduct, first, in endangering the lives of police officers by sabotaging one of their vehicles, and second, by lining his pockets with stolen government funds intended to provide relief during the COVID-19 pandemic," Acting United States Attorney Mark Lesko said.

Trapp was first arrested last summer after crawling under a marked NYPD van near Fourth Avenue and 42nd Street in Brooklyn and cutting a line that is part of its anti-lock braking system, which is next to and looks the same as the main brake line, according to prosecutors.

That arrest made headlines when reporters discovered the NYPD had sent a paid informant to surveil, befriend and ultimately drive Trapp to attack the police van.

Trapp met the civilian informant in July outside Brooklyn Criminal Court, where protesters were gathered to demand the release of people arrested during a demonstration in Bay Ridge, according to Gothamist.

The source and Trapp exchanged phone numbers and met up three times, including on July 17, when the informant picked up Trapp at his mother's home and drove him to Sunset Park. Trapp used a tool to crawl under a police van while the informant acted as a look out, according to the report.

Investigators caught onto Trapp's fraud scheme when they got a warrant from the NYPD van case to search his phone and found screenshots about the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program loan, according to court documents.

On the application, Trapp said he ran a car wash out of his Brooklyn home with 10 employees and was approved fora $42,500 loan and a $10,000 grant. His mom, who he lived with, would later confirm with officials that Trapp had never run a business out of the house, according to the documents.

Prosecutors have previously said both charges carry potential 20-year prison sentences.