TAMPA, Fla. – Dozens of high-end cars have been recovered, and 23 Florida residents arrested for their alleged roles in a purported crime ring centered around profiting from the theft and sale of luxury vehicles.
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Of the suspects arrested in “Operation Gone in 60 Days,” 18 are from Hillsborough County, three from Miami-Dade County, and one from both Lee and Hernando counties, said the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).
The FDLE said its investigation began in July 2018 when agents began looking into allegations of Florida Commercial Driver Licenses (CDLs) being illegally distributed to persons who had not completed the required training courses.
Investigators said they discovered a criminal organization that was issuing fraudulent Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) to high-end vehicles that were obtained through fraud or theft, selling the vehicles below market value, fraudulently assigning tags, defrauding customers by purporting to issue automobile insurance and other crimes.
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The purported crime ring’s illegal activities centered around profiting from the theft and sale of luxury vehicles from brands like Porsche, Land Rover, and Maserati. According to the FDLE, suspects would illegally acquire the vehicles using couriers, fake names, and fraudulent payments to “purchase” the vehicles from dealerships who wouldn’t discover the fraud until after the vehicles were gone from the lot.
Another alleged vehicle-acquisition scheme reportedly saw the suspects keeping rental vehicles and filing false police reports claiming the vehicles had been stolen.
Investigators said they found that the organization’s leader would generate counterfeit VINs to attach to the vehicle to further cover up the thefts.
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Since the vehicles were reportedly obtained illegally and lacked legitimate paperwork that could be used to register them, another suspect, who worked in a Miami-based dealership, is accused of issuing temporary tags from the dealership or transferring a tag from a legitimate vehicle to the fraudulent vehicle.
According to the FDLE, suspects would also purport to sell auto insurance to customers purchasing the stolen vehicles, which would often result in customers receiving an initial policy that quickly lapsed as the suspects kept the actual payments provided.
In addition to the 23 suspects already arrested and two more with active arrest warrants, agents have filed two additional arrest affidavits with the court for a total of 27 suspects.
The FDLE, Attorney General Ashley Moody’s Office of Statewide Prosecution (OSP), Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis’ Department of Financial Services Division of Insurance Fraud, Florida Highway Patrol (FHP), and the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) announced the results of Operation Gone in 60 Days Monday at a press conference held at FDLE’s Tampa Regional Operations Center.
