dirt digger
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Dirt Late Models Rule!
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Ventura
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We broke up the Southern California portion of the group," said Starbird, who headed up the investigation. "Is there someone higher up in the food chain? Yes. And they may not even be in this country."
The investigation started last November with the theft of a Cadillac Escalade from Orange County. Long Beach police tracked the vehicle to their city, where they found three men trying to switch the vehicle identification number.
Police contacted Starbird and the Taskforce for Regional Autotheft Prevention, or TRAP, to follow up.
What the task force found, Starbird said, was a sophisticated auto theft operation organized around five cells, each working with some degree of independence.
Starbird said the thieves targeted only certain truck brands with a high resale value and almost always took vehicles parked on quiet suburban streets or in residential driveways, working exclusively under the cover of night to reduce their chances of being caught. The vehicles of choice were the Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Avalanche, Yukon Denali and the <MD+,%30,%55,%70>3/<MD-,%0,%55,%70>4-ton GMC Sierra and Silverado.
Small groups of thieves would case neighborhoods looking for a truck to steal and, once they found one, would copy down the vehicle identification number, or VIN, and pass it along to their inside man, who police allege is Chris Michael Laney of Torrance.
Laney, 41, worked at an undisclosed auto dealership and, according to Starbird, used his position to obtain key codes from the VIN. The key codes would then be forwarded to a locksmith, said to be Lorenzo Alexis Vides, 45, of Los Angeles, who created keys the thieves could use to get into the trucks and start them.
Laney and Vides were arrested Tuesday and were being held on $2.5 million bail.
After stealing a truck, thieves would park it for a few days in a "safe" area to see if a tracking device had been installed. If not, they would move it to a shop, where cosmetic changes would be made and a counterfeit VIN installed.
Then the truck would be ready for sale to an unsuspecting customer.
Authorities estimate the more than 200 stolen trucks are worth about $8 million. A few have been recovered, but most have not.
"Unknown buyers are riding around right now in stolen trucks," said Sheriff Lee Baca at the TRAP press conference held at sheriff's headquarters in Monterey Park.
Baca urged anyone who recently bought one of the targeted brands through a private sale to "strongly scrutinize" their purchases if they seem "too good to be true."
Starbird said most of the trucks sold for about half their listed worth and usually carried salvage titles.
The group stole trucks from all over L.A. County. Investigators said they linked the ring to thefts in Altadena, Pasadena, Monrovia, West Covina, Whittier and Montebello, among other cities.
The TRAP team served 25 search warrants Tuesday at homes and shops in Pasadena, North Hollywood, Gardena, Los Angeles and Fontana.
In all, authorities filed 40 felony counts against the 23 people arrested. The charges include conspiracy, operating a "chop shop," altering VINs and grand theft auto.
In addition, investigators are looking at four auto dealerships thought to be linked to the thefts. Authorities would not disclose their names or locations.
Detective Robert Manning of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department said about 90 percent of the people arrested Tuesday are foreign nationals. Four of the men had been picked up earlier on auto theft charges and deported to Central America.
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