More than a dozen people have been arrested and more are being sought in connection with a more than $1 million car theft ring in Miami-Dade.
After months of investigating, Miami-Dade Police said they've made multiple grand theft arrests of a group of criminals who they said have been selling stolen cars.
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Miami-Dade Det. Luis Sierra said months ago the police department's Sea Port Operations detectives received a call of cars being shipped out of the state that were possibly stolen.
After investigating, they realized the cars had altered vins. The cars were rented out or sold, and in some cases even sold to dealerships.
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"It's been a very organized group of criminals that have been renting out cars and getting cars by other means and re-vinning 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."
The stolen cars with falsified titles were sold at the AutoNationa Ford in Miami, the AutoNation Chevrolet in Coral Gables, and a CarMax in Doral.
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"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 in a statement Thursday.
"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."
While more than a dozen have been arrested, police are still looking for three men. They're also looking for more possible 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.
Anyone with information is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.
