17 Charged In Tampa-Based Car-Cloning Theft Ring

Two decades ago, a group of car thieves hit on a foolproof way to steal cars and get away with it. It was a scheme that involved bogus vehicle identification numbers and multi-state - even multinational - coordination. The end result: millions in profits.

The plan worked like this: Thieves would steal a vehicle and then head to a neighboring state to find one matching the make, model and even the color. They would copy down that vehicle identification number, forge a label which they pasted onto the VIN number of the stolen car and drove off with impunity. They could forge titles and ownership papers, and often sell the car legally. As long as they stayed out of the state where the car was stolen, few complications could develop. It was called car cloning, two identical vehicles in two states, one identification number.

The fake VIN label usually was made in Mexico and shipped into the United States via FedEX or UPS or DHL, according to federal authorities. VIN plates appear on several places in the car, including on the engine block, but only the ones in plain sight, like on the dashboard or in the door jamb, were altered.

The ring, headquartered in Tampa but operating in Miami, Chicago even as far away as Mexico City ran its business successfully stealing about 1,000 vehicles during that time. It caught the attention of investigators in 2006.

Tuesday, those investigators announced the ring was busted.

Federal indictments made public today charged 17 people with being part of the international car-cloning ring, laying open the cloning style of thievery that until recently went almost undetectable.

Operation Dual Identity, said to be one of the largest car theft cases mounted by the FBI, began more than two years ago and ended with warrants issued for individuals in Tampa, Miami, Chicago, Mexico City and Guadalajara, Mexico, according to the FBI. Fourteen of the 17 named in the indictments have been taken into custody, officials said.

Over the course of the three-year probe, almost 50 people have been arrested by the task force, which is comprised of about 50 law enforcement agencies and private companies, mostly insurance corporations.

Agents estimate a "significant percentage" of the 1.3 million cars stolen in the nation annually, worth a total of about $8 billion, are cloned. One out of every three cars stolen is never recovered.

Tampa U.S. Attorney A. Brian Albritton said the investigation resulted in "two significant indictments" against the cell that used Tampa as its home base and reached as far as Mexico, Chicago and New York.

Among the identified leaders was Pablo "Tito" Barrio, 54, of South Tampa, who faces a maximum 184 years in prison if convicted of the charges against him, Albritton said. Barrio's 26-year-old son, Edel, was also among those charged.

"We are sending a clear message," Albritton said. "The penalties for this are great if you are caught and convicted. And we know you are out there. These are serious offenses."

Miami-Dade County police Maj. Greg Terp, who served on the task force, said car cloning won't be eliminated by the indictments issued today, but the style of offense will be severely curtailed.

"This is significant," he said. Targeted vehicles typically were high end luxury cars or sport-utility vehicles, he said. The indictment mentions a Ford F350 pickup truck, a GMC Yukon Denali, a Cadillac Escalade, a Toyota 4Runner and a Hummer H2.

Agents said those charged have been ripping off vehicles and cloning them for nearly 20 years in the United States and since 2004 in Mexico. The FBI estimates that more than 1,000 vehicles were stolen in Florida during that time and less than half have been recovered. The losses amount to more than $25 million, agents say.

The cars with cloned vehicle identification numbers were sold to people in 20 states and several countries.

Steven E. Ibison, FBI special agent in charge, said this operation, which did most of its business in Tampa and Chicago, may be larger than believed.

"There may be thousands of cloned cars out there we don't even know about yet," he said.

The charges ranged from conspiracy to mail fraud and interstate transportation of stolen motor vehicles to identity theft, trafficking in motor vehicles or motor vehicle parts and altering motor vehicle identification numbers.

The FBI and other federal and private agencies are pushing an initiative to link departments of motor vehicles in each state as a way to curb car cloning. In January, that project, titled the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System, was announced. The database tracks the history of vehicle identification numbers, enabling motor vehicle offices in each state to verify title and sale information.

The problem is that not all states are participating. Only 13 states are signed up and talking to each other. Some have antiquated computer systems that don't mesh easily with systems used in other states or by the federal government, agents said. Some states are balking at the cost of hooking into the system.

Once the database is fully implemented, car cloning could become a crime of the past, agents say.

"If this was fully in place today," said James McCreary, with the Department of Justice in Washington, "most, if not all, vehicle fraud would not have been possible."