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Police Say Group Specialized In Stealing Fancy Rims

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By VALERIE KALFRIN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 4, 2008

TAMPA - For four months, Tampa police Detectives Scott Guffey and John Haggart drove through the city in any car they could find, trying to track a group they suspected of stealing high-priced rims and tires for private buyers.

Maurice Antuan Garrett, 21, his girlfriend and their associates were tough to watch, suspicious of anyone sitting in a car four blocks away, police said. They would pull "heat runs," swinging into parking lots and quickly pulling out behind whoever they thought was following them.

Garrett in particular was "very savvy," Guffey said. "He would drive past the police station to see what kind of vehicles we had."

Thursday, police said the intricacies paid off in the arrests of three people, including Garrett, late last week on felony racketeering charges. Police said they are seeking two others on felony racketeering charges: Jeffrey Frank Bush, 23, and Maurice Devine Deshazier, 19, both of Tampa.

They have arrested 14 other people on lesser offenses. They said five of the people involved are known gang members, including Henry Allen Merrell, 23, of Tampa, identified in an arrest affidavit as part of the Draks gang. He also is charged with racketeering.

Garrett and Merrell were held without bail Thursday at Orient Road Jail. Garrett's girlfriend, Erica C. Reed, 21, of Tampa, also charged with racketeering, was held on $30,000 bail Thursday.

The investigation is ongoing, police said.

Members of the group were involved in violence or used weapons when stealing cars, usually Nissans and Chevrolets, throughout Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando and Tallahassee, police said. Someone in Tallahassee shot at them during one attempt to steal a car.

Detectives estimate the group stole two to three cars per week. The group also took orders for flashy, expensive rims that they unloaded to private buyers, police said. In one instance, they stole a $12,000 set of rims from a Lexus owned by former Tampa Bay Devil Rays ballplayer Elijah Dukes, reselling the rims for $1,000 and leaving the car on blocks in East Tampa, police said.

"They were very sophisticated," said Capt. Hugh Miller of the gang and narcotics units, which helped the detectives. "They would reconnoiter potential targets. They would trace or follow a car back to an address."

The group targeted venues such as Tropicana Field and events such as the Disney Florida Classic in Orlando in November, a football game between two historically black colleges, Florida A&M University and Bethune-Cookman University, police said.

Garrett had a floor jack similar to the kind used at NASCAR races and keys to fit various lug nuts, Guffey said.

"If somebody had very expensive tires and rims on their vehicle, he would park in their driveway at 4 in the morning, and you would come out and your car would be on blocks," he said.

Guffey and Haggart work in District 3, which covers downtown Tampa, Ybor City and parts of East Tampa. They proposed tracking Garrett and his associates as part of a racketeering case after noticing the same people cropping up in a pattern of auto thefts and stolen car parts, police said.

For example, after police arrested Garrett Oct. 9 on felony auto theft and related charges, he netted another arrest Oct. 19 on a felony grand theft charge, records show. The Oct. 9 charges were dismissed in November, but the disposition from the other case is pending, court records show.

A racketeering conviction would keep those involved off the streets longer, police said. Racketeering is a first-degree felony punishable by 10 to 30 years in prison, whereas auto theft and grand theft are third-degree felonies punishable by up to five years in prison.

Reporter Josh Poltilove contributed to this report. Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or vkalfrin@tampatrib

.com.

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