A New Jersey man has admitted to orchestrating a multistate car theft and fraud ring that involved tracking drivers, programming keys, stealing their cars, and reselling their vehicles.
U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said that Warren Guerrier pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William J. Martini in Newark federal court to an indictment charging him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
The scheme involved the theft of at least 40 stolen vehicles in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Approximately 30 of the vehicles stolen were then sold by Guerrier and his conspirators to buyer victims. As a result of the scheme, Guerrier and his conspirators collected approximately $285,000, prosecutors said.
According to documents and statements in court, the scheme was operated from November 2016 to June 2020 by Guerrier and several conspirators acting at his direction.
Guerrier and his conspirators identified vehicles to steal, then photographed them and attached a global positioning system (GPS) tracker on the vehicles to acquire a pattern-of-life of the vehicles’ owners and to track their locations. Using the photos, they then advertised the vehicles for sale on the internet.
According to the indictment, once a buyer was identified, they scheduled an in-person meeting to conduct the sale of the stolen vehicles. Prior to the arranged meeting, Guerrier and his coconspirators utilized the GPS trackers placed on the vehicles to locate the vehicles that they previously posted for sale and stole them using unlawfully obtained valet keys, which are key fobs that can be electronically programmed to initiate the operation of a vehicle.
At the meetings with the victim buyers, prosecutors said that in exchange for cash for the vehicles, the coconspirators provided the buyers with the programmed valet keys and fraudulent documents including a fraudulent certificate of title. Buyers also were given fraudulent identity documents that obscured the true identities of the sellers.
Prosecutors had surveillance footage on a case showing Guerrier dumping the personal belongings of one victim owner into a Dumpster before reselling the vehicle for $8,500.
Prosecutors said a photograph of vehicle identification numbers as well as the personal identifying information of the vehicle owners were found on Guerrier’s cell phone. There were also surveillance videos of Guerrier and a coconspirator near the sites where stolen cars were sold, according to the indictment.
The indictment further alleges that Guerrier’s electronic device was used to access the website containing the GPS tracking information for vehicles shortly before they were stolen.
U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI )with the investigation leading to the guilty plea.
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey
Topics Fraud Personal Auto
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