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FBI Seeks Help Finding 4 Car-Cloning Suspects

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TBO.com

Published: March 25, 2009

Eduardo Izquierdo-Marquez

Eliener Alfonso-Gonzalez

Fernando Taurino Capote-Gonzalez

Teddy Santana

TAMPA - Two men from Florida and two from Mexico are still sought in a crackdown on a car-theft ring busted Tuesday, the FBI said today.

Seventeen people, including four from Tampa, have been named as part of the ring, dubbed Operation Dual Identity by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Investigators said thieves would steal a vehicle and head to a neighboring state to find one matching the make, model and color. They would copy that vehicle identification number, known as the VIN, forge a label, paste it on the VIN on the dashboard or doorjamb of the stolen car and forge titles and ownership papers to match.

Then the vehicle could be sold with few complications. The practice is called car cloning, or having two vehicles in two states with one VIN.

Officials said Tuesday that 14 of the 17 people named in federal indictments were arrested on charges such as conspiracy, mail fraud, trafficking in motor vehicles and interstate transportation of stolen motor vehicles.

However, Special Agent Dave Couvertier, a spokesman for the FBI's Tampa office, said today that four people remain at large.

They are: Eduardo Izquierdo-Marquez, 46, of Hialeah; Fernando Taurino Capote-Gonzalez, 50, of Miami; Teddy Santana, 37, of Mexico; and Eliener Alfonso-Gonzalez, 40, of Mexico.

Couvertier asked anyone with information about the men's whereabouts to call their local law enforcement agency or the FBI at (866) 838-1153.

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