Man on murder charge accused of stealing luxury cars

Ricardo Sudlow, a telecomms installer who was arrested and charged with murder and firearm offences earlier this month following separate incidents in St Mary and St Ann, has found himself before the courts again after being accused of stealing five high-end cars worth $40 million in one night.

Sudlow is charged with five counts of larceny of a motor vehicle, conspiracy to commit office breaking and larceny, office breaking and larceny, false declaration and receiving stolen property. He has not yet entered a plea. It is alleged that on March 16 between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m., Sudlow forced open the windows of the offices of a car dealership located on Haining Road, St Andrew, and stole three Dell desktop computers valued at $347,000 as well as three 45-inch display screens with mouse and keyboard sets valued at $231,000.

He also reportedly took the keys to five high-end vehicles, a 2015 BMW convertible coupe, a 2014 BMW X6, a 2019 Range Rover Vogue, a 2017 Mercedes-Benz C300 and a 2016 BMW 520i, all of which were parked at the premises. The prosecution said the incident was captured on closed circuit television. Later that day, the BMW convertible was recovered in Eltham Park, St Catherine, and a day later, Sudlow was arrested by the police in St Elizabeth after he was found in possession of the Range Rover. The Mercedes-Benz and the X6 were recovered by the police in Hampton Green, St Catherine, and Cherry Gardens, St Andrew, respectively. The other BMW, which is valued at $4.7 million, has not yet been found. The other items have not yet been recovered.

When the matter was mentioned in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on Tuesday, the prosecutors submitted to Senior Parish Judge Lori-Anne Cole-Montaque that they are strongly opposed to bail. However, Tamika Harris, Sudlow's attorney, did not apply for bail, but requested to receive disclosure from the prosecution and that the matters be dealt with expeditiously.

"There is a challenge with physical disclosure at this time, as there are no working photocopy machines on the building," the judge shared.

Cole-Montaque ordered that the recovered vehicles be returned to the registered owners, as investigators had no objections. Sudlow was made the subject of a fingerprint order and was further remanded until June 2 when the matter is to be mentioned.