50+ vehicles recovered in Warren auto theft ring

By KIM NORTH SHINE

Police in Macomb County say they got an extraordinary view into the world of auto theft during an undercover investigation that started in June and ended Wednesday with the arrests of 10 men in Warren, most of them teenagers willing to quickly steal and sell cars and trucks for $200 a pop to what they believed was a chop shop operation.

Five suspects are at large and another arrest was made separately July 29, when it was discovered by an undercover officer that one stolen car had been carjacked from an 79-year-old Eastpointe man earlier in the day in Warren.

The announcment of the arrests and details of the operation came today during a half-hour news conference at Warren City Hall, where the team of undercover officers looked on from the back of the room while Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel and Warren Police Commission William Dwyer lauded their work and hailed the undercover operation as the first of a multi-phase plan to catch car thieves.

"This was a long, tedious process," Hackel said.

They described the undercover chop shop operation as a laborious effort that required undercover officers be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week whenever a call to buy a stolen vehicle came in. The officers had to get to know the suspects, coordinate with insurance companies and work multiple law enforcement jurisdictions to zero in on the stolen cars and thieves.

Hackel said the experience provided a lesson that law enforcement agencies can use in future car theft investigations.

"They got to meet with them. It was hand-to-hand buying," Hackel said. "It was a very intense operation."

Altogether the suspects, all Detroiters, are accused of stealing 53 vehicles, all but two of them Chryslers.

Nine men between the ages of 17 and 21, were arraigned on multiple charges today in 37th District Court in Warren. The tenth suspect, a juvenile, was arraigned in Macomb County Juvenile Court Thursday.

Together the vehicles they are accused of stealing are valued at $600,000, Hackel said.

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