PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Pennsylvania officials have taken down a $1.6 million vehicle title-washing scheme that spanned Philly, its collar counties and other states.
Officials said 45-year-old Reginald Manson Jr., several of his relatives, and a few friends stole 50 cars and resold them on Facebook Marketplace.
“They would go online and look up VIN numbers for certain vehicles, mainly Honda CRV products, and they would go to different states like South Carolina, Georgia and Michigan, and they would get VIN numbers off cars that were on the internet,” said Philadelphia Police Capt. Rob McKeever.
Then, they would steal cars with similar VINs in Philly, remove the public VIN from the windshield and replace it with the VIN from another state. In one case, they advertised a 2022 Honda CR-V for about $9,500. Officials called it “Operation Zombie VIN.”
Unknowing victims were from Delaware, Montgomery and Bucks counties, as well as New Jersey and New York. Those in Delaware and Montgomery counties typically purchased the cars using a cash transfer app and only realized the VIN was stolen after police pulled them over.
“We had one family buy six cars from this crew, and they were basically scammed out of $120,000,” McKeever said.
According to the criminal complaint, Manson had a storage facility filled with meth and stolen car parts in Montgomery County
Manson and nine others have been charged with a slew of offenses, including conspiracy, corrupt organization and receiving stolen property. They will face a judge in Montgomery County.
A suspect named Daryl Sturgis is still on the run.
