TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Twenty-three suspects were arrested in a five-year investigation into a vehicle theft ring in Florida, according to officials.
In a Monday press conference, FDLE Commissioner Mark Glass and Attorney General Ashley Moody announced the results of “Operation Gone in 60 Days,” a multi-agency operation that targeted criminals involved in an organized vehicle theft ring.
“It took over five years to do that, to put that all together,” the commissioner said.
Special Agent in Charge Mark Brutnell said the operation began in July 2018 after investigators at the Tampa Bay Regional Operations Center started to look into the sale of fake commercial driver’s licenses in the Tampa region.
While investigating these sales, investigators noticed that their confidential sources kept showing up to meetings in high-end cars with temporary tags.
“Our keen investigators decided ‘that’s kind of strange’ and started running these temporary tags,” Brutnell said.
Their discovery led the FDLE to a “very organized fraud” that operated in three ways.
According to Brutnell, the first way the vehicle theft ring operated was by targeting small dealerships in states like Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia.
The special agent said suspect Raismel Cruz would find these dealerships online, have someone pick up the vehicle, and send a fraudulent check to a bank in Tampa to pay for the vehicle.
“Once the deal was consummated, within a couple hours, somebody from that group was picking up that vehicle and driving it back to Tampa,” Brutnell said. “Well ultimately, those checks, they weren’t good so the funds were not there. It was too late. The car was already back here in Tampa.”
After the vehicle was stolen, Cruz and his associates would get temporary tags from suspect Mariangel Lizardo Peraza, the special agent said. According to Brutnell, Lizardo Peraza worked at a dealership in Miami.
The FDLE agent said another suspect would also create false VIN numbers for the vehicles.
“They would then drive the car for 60 days until the temporary tag was no longer valid, and he would sell it,” Brutnell said.
He said Cruz would sell the stolen vehicle to friends and associates for much less than what it was worth. The example Brutnell used was selling a $100,000 car for just $15,000.
The second way these vehicles would be obtained is by scamming car rental agencies, Brutnell said. The suspects would allegedly rent the vehicles from other areas, bring them back to Tampa, and then file a police report for the stolen vehicle.
Brutnell said the third way they would get these vehicles is by buying them legitimately but then reporting them stolen after six months.
“They call it the giveaway,” Brutnell said.
Some of the people who bought the vehicles were not aware that the vehicles they were buying were stolen, according to the agent.
Brutnell said to make matters worse, Cruz would trick people into buying fake car insurance after they would buy the vehicles.
“These people would give him money, cash money, for their six-month policy,” the agent said. “He would go online, he would craft his little policy, give them a nice little insurance card, and then after a month, they would get a call from Geico saying ‘you don’t have any car insurance.'”
According to the FDLE, Cruz was arrested on other charges in 2020, authorities found over 76,000 pictures of driver’s licenses, VIN numbers, and vehicles.
“This guy was a walking fraudulent cell phone,” Brutnell said.
According to Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, Cruz could face a consecutive sentence of 135 years in prison if he is found guilty.
Moody said to ensure that you are buying a legitimate vehicle by checking the title for the seller’s name, asking for the dealer’s license, and checking online to see if the dealer has sold stolen vehicles, particularly with the Better Business Bureau.
The attorney general also said you can also check to see if the VIN number matches on the side of the door and on the dashboard. A legitimate VIN sticker also does not come off easily so if you’re peeling it off with no effort, it’s a fake, according to Moody.
In the case of a private sale, Moody said you can also do the transaction at the DMV with a representative overseeing the purchase.
“Many times, those folks there have worked there for decades, and they can spot if there is a fraudulent title document,” the attorney general said.
Recent numbers from the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) show Florida ranks 4th in the nation for the number of vehicle thefts.
The NICB reports that in 2022, vehicle thefts nationwide surpassed 1 million for the first time since 2008.
“We are seeing vehicle theft numbers that we haven’t seen in nearly 15 years, and there is very little deterrent to stop criminals from committing these acts as they are just property crimes, like shoplifting,” said David J. Glawe, President and CEO of the National Insurance Crime Bureau. “We must reinvest in local law enforcement, provide the necessary resources for prosecution and community policing programs, and implement early intervention programs given the high incidence of juvenile offenders involved in vehicle thefts.”