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A high-tech car theft ring that can steal vehicles in under a minute — without keys, smashed windows or hot wiring — has been exposed in a sweeping federal indictment, exposing a sophisticated pipeline that moves stolen cars from U.S. streets to overseas black markets.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro on Wednesday announced a 15-count federal indictment targeting the ring, which she said uses an electronic device called an Autel to rewrite a vehicle’s internal computer, allowing them to program a blank key fob instead of using more traditional methods to steal cars.
“They don’t need keys, and they don’t need hot wiring,” Pirro said. “No smashed windows, no drama…. In under a minute, the car’s brain is rewritten. The car is gone in 60 seconds.”
Pirro said the crews have acted in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Pennsylvania to steal a wide range of vehicles, from higher-end Corvettes and Camaros to one of America’s most popular vehicles, the Honda Civic.
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Once stolen, the suspects allegedly disabled tracking systems, including GPS and Bluetooth, to avoid detection, and “cooled off” vehicles at locations where license plates were swapped — including a parking garage at a Maryland Marriott. They allegedly then loaded them onto transport carriers at ports in Savannah, Georgia, and Baltimore, Maryland.
The stolen cars are hidden in containers labeled as furniture to avoid scrutiny, Pirro said. Investigators say the vehicles were then sent overseas, primarily to Africa, where they were sold on the black market for high profits.
“This isn’t joyriding,” Pirro said. “These are high-end vehicles that are then loaded on transport carriers … shipped across the ocean to Africa, where demand is sky high and profits are enormous.”
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“Welcome to the new world of car theft,” Pirro added.
The indictment identifies more than 20 stolen vehicles worth nearly $1 million, but investigators believe the operation may be far larger — potentially tied to over 100 thefts in Washington, D.C., and more than 30 in Prince George’s County, Maryland, with a total value approaching $4 million.
The five men charged so far include Jacob Hernandez, David Coby, Dustin Wetzel, Chance Clark and James Young. They face multiple federal charges, including conspiracy, possession and transport of stolen vehicles, as well as related offenses.
Authorities said the investigation is ongoing and warned the public that modern car theft rings are increasingly using advanced technology to bypass traditional security measures.
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Metropolitan Police Department’s Interim Police Chief Jeffery Carrol said citizens can take steps to prevent this new kind of car theft, including keeping key fobs inside a faraday bag — a bag that prevents the electronic signal from emanating from the fob — and “old school things” like club manual devices to lock a steering wheel.
“I know a lot of people will think those things are outdated, but they’re not,” Carrol said. “They’re good devices that prevent vehicles from still being driven” even if someone uses an Autel device to access the car.
