Miami-Dade police have arrested more than a dozen people believed to be connected with a Florida car theft ring.
The grand theft arrests come after months of investigating. Miami-Dade Det. Luis Sierra said they began receiving calls from the Sea Port Operations detectives about cars being shipped out of the state.
"It's been a very organized group of criminals that have been renting out cars and getting cars by other means and re-VIN-ing them. and in fact trying to re-sell them to dealerships throughout the state and throughout the country," Sierra said. "It’s been several cars, a bit over $1 million in automobile sales.”
Fake titles allowed the crew to sell the stolen cars to AutoNation Ford in Miami, AutoNation Chevy in Coral Gables and a Doral CarMax.
"AutoNation fully supports law enforcement’s efforts to investigate and prosecute any form of fraud related to motor vehicles, titling and affiliated records. We want to make sure consumers are protected,” AutoNation said.
"Goes to show you we are in Miami and unfortunately there is a lot of fraud here," Sierra said. "How they were able to sell these cars and make them legit is something that we are still trying to figure out.”
Police are still looking for three men, as well as looking for more victims.
"You need to be very careful when you buy something. You need to check, double check and triple check. You do not want to be a victim of fraud," Sierra said.
