Six people were charged in a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday that alleges a car-theft ring targeted vehicles in the Washington, D.C., area and then sold them in the United States and in Ghana, according to prosecutors. Prosecutors said the alleged plan involved stealing at least 20 cars from the region.
In their statement, prosecutors said investigators suspected members of the ring stole more than 100 cars in the District of Columbia and more than 30 others in Maryland’s Prince George’s County. The indictment, described as the result of a yearlong investigation, said the group used technology to bypass vehicle security systems.
Authorities searched an automobile storage facility in Decatur, Georgia, on Tuesday, prosecutors said, describing it as linked to the alleged ring. The charging document also lays out steps investigators said were taken after vehicles were stolen, including actions intended to make them harder to track.
Prosecutors said investigators found that ring members used devices that allowed them to reprogram cars to accept blank key fobs. They said stolen vehicles were taken to a Washington parking garage where suspects swapped license plates and obscured vehicle identification numbers and disabled security features.
The indictment names Jacob Hernandez, 29, of Los Angeles; Dustin Wetzel, 23, of Woodbridge, Virginia; James Young, 23, of Hyattsville, Maryland; Khobe David, 24, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland; and Chance Clark, 25, of Waldorf, Maryland. Prosecutors also said there was a sixth defendant whose name was not immediately released and who remained at large.
All six are charged with conspiracy to possess, sell and transport stolen motor vehicles, prosecutors said. The case puts front-and-center the alleged use of tools and procedures prosecutors described as designed to defeat modern vehicle access systems and reduce the chance that identifying information would remain intact.