NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Investigators busted a highly advanced car theft ring connected to 225 stolen vehicles in New York City and Westchester, officials announced Tuesday.
A band of thieves based in the Bronx allegedly obtained key code information to make fake keys; reprogrammed car computer systems; and replaced windshields and official Vehicle Identification Numbers to slyly resell the cars for profit, the NYPD and Attorney General Letitia James allege.
The suspects allegedly swiped cars throughout the city and Westchester over two years — but they ramped up operations in the six months at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, from April 2020 to October 2020, when New Yorkers stayed home and left their car parked in one place for longer amounts of time, according to officials.
“During the pandemic, they moved this operation into high gear, taking advantage of New Yorkers’ staying at home to allegedly stealing more than 45 cars in six months,” James said in a statement. “We exhausted every avenue to track down these thieves, and, today, we send a loud and clear message that we will not stand idly by as New Yorkers are burglarized.”
James and NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea announced a 303-count indictment charging 10 people for a host of felonies, including Criminal Possession of Stolen Property; Grand Larceny; Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument, among others.
“This was a complex, high-tech operation that sought to weaponize every hidden vulnerability in the automotive industry from creating keys based on bootleg code lists to altering computer settings to creating a mill that furnished false registrations for altered VIN numbers,” Shea said.
The joint investigation between the NYPD and Attorney General, dubbed “Operation Master Key,” found that, once the theives staked out their vehicle and fabricated keys, they were able to gain access; reprogram the cars and disable alarms in the matter of minutes.
A crew was also able to reprogram the vehicles so that the rightful owner’s electronic key would no longer be recognized.
The theft team allegedly tapped an owner of an auto tag agency in Philadelphia, Carmela’s Multiservice and Auto Tag, to organize and file fictitious documents with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and obtain clean registrations and titles for the vehicles.
Those indicted in the ring are eight men from the Bronx: Norberto Pena Brito, 35; Jose Lebron Impentel, 39; Edwin Hidalgo Estevez, 31; Dariberto Fernandez Perez, 30; Hector Rivera, 52; Willy Abreu Martinez, 39; Carlos Valverde, 33; and Andul Khan, 35.
Also indicted are Jesus Cabral, 55, of Waterbury, Connecticut; and Leticia Saldivar, 37, of Waterford Works, New Jersy.