Region 1 News
Region 1a Director:  Gary King, Tyler Police Department
Region 1b Director:  Ivette Haley, Fort Worth Police Department
Region 1c Director:  Reid Stacy, Dallas Police Department

Submitted by Sgt. Matt Pedersen, Tarrant Regional Auto Crimes Task Force

"Any Officer - Line One"

Phone calls to the Task Force have become somewhat of a game of roulette – investigators are not quite sure where the conversation on the line will take them.  When such a call came into the office in September and the secretary announced, “Any officer, line one,” Det. Philip Adams (Tarrant County SO) answered the phone.   On the line was a broker from New York who had hired a South Carolina transport company, Cheyenne Transport, to pick up a truck in north Texas and deliver it to a buyer in Hidden Valley Lake, CA.  When the truck did not arrive and the transport company failed to return phone calls, the broker decided to inquire what local law enforcement could do.

Det. Adams determined that the transport company received the majority of its business through an online referral company at CentralDispatch.com.   After calling the referral company, they advised Det. Adams that they had received several complaints regarding Cheyenne Transport and placed Det. Adams in contact with these complainants.  Det. Adams quickly determined that the transport company was picking up trucks, cars and motorcycles and the majority of the time failing to deliver – thus depriving the owners of their property.  Det. Adams became CentralDisptach’s primary contact as reports of missing vehicles continued to pour in.

Det. Adams was able to contact the primary suspect, Johnny Allen Drew, by telephone and discuss the situation.  At the time of the call, Johnny was visiting his son Matthew in the hospital after his son was involved in a motorcycle accident rendering him paralyzed.  Det. Adams later determined that Matthew Drew had picked up the 2003 Dodge Ram pickup truck that Det. Adams was investigating and did not complete the delivery to California.  After a couple phone conversations that demonstrated little cooperation on the suspect’s behalf, Det. Adams contacted the Laurens County Sheriff’s Office in South Carolina for assistance.  The local field agent with the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) was also contacted to provide investigative support to the local authorities.

Working with CentralDisptach.com, Det. Adams was able to identify 21 trucks, cars and motorcycles that had been picked up by Cheyenne Transport and never delivered.   The stolen vehicles spanned 14 states including HI, WV, TX, MO, CA, FL, NC, KS, VA, AZ, CT, NY, SC, NV and NE.  After South Carolina authorities determined that the motorcycle Matthew had crashed was one of the stolen motorcycles in question, they secured a search warrant for Johnny Drew’s property where they recovered nine additional stolen vehicles.  To date, 19 vehicles have been recovered totaling more that $100K in recovery value and two arrests made.  Two vehicles remain unaccounted for, including a $75K custom chopper believed to be somewhere in Missouri.  This investigation, spanning several states, involving dozens of victims and requiring coordination with authorities from numerous jurisdictions at different levels demonstrates the necessity of state funded auto crimes task forces and the exemplary work being conducted by their investigators.

Submitted by Sgt. Matt Pedersen, Tarrant Regional Auto Crimes Task Force

Major North Texas BMV Suspect Arrested

After the Rhome Police Department (Wise County) arrested two suspected car burglars, a telephone call was placed to the TRACTF to assist in an investigation that appeared to local police to span across several north Texas counties.  Det. James Wall (Saginaw PD) and Det. Ryan Tooker (Hurst PD) interviewed one of the suspects (name withheld) who decided to provide information in an attempt to work off his charges.   Suspect 1 advised that his partner, Donald Louis Owens, committed motor vehicle burglaries five nights a week, taking the weekends off to spend time with his girlfriend.  Suspect 1 further stated that Owens kept the stolen property in his girlfriend’s storage unit, but was uncertain where the storage unit was located.  After trying to work Suspect 1 to find the storage unit, Suspect 1’s cooperation eventually ceased and the investigation came to a halt.

A short time later, Det. Wall determined that Owen and his girlfriend were arrested after the Bedford Police Department executed a search warrant on the girlfriend’s apartment and arrested the two for counterfeit currency.  Det. Wall seized the opportunity to interview the girlfriend, who ultimately provided the location of her storage unit and her consent for investigators to search it.  Detectives Wall and Tooker located a duffle bag full of various electronic devices that they felt had been taken in several motor vehicle burglaries based on Suspect 1’s initial statements at the beginning of the investigation.  The bag was seized and the property was later inventoried.

After completing an inventory of the property, detectives were able to locate several owners of the GPS units, radar detectors and cell phones.   Several of the GPS units had “home” addresses programmed into them allowing for easy owner identification.  Det. Wall contacted several of the owners of the property, many of whom had not realized that they had been victims of a burglary.  Owens’ trail of property led Det. Wall to multiple offenses in Wise, Denton and Tarrant Counties.  After coordinating with the local police departments where each of the victims lived, Det. Wall submitted his case to the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office.  Owens pled to four years of incarceration while Suspect 1 is still at large with four active felony warrants courtesy of Det. Wall and TRACTF.

Submitted by Sgt. Matt Pedersen, Tarrant Regional Auto Crimes Task Force

Auto Crime Leads to Major Identity Theft Ring

On September 6, 2011, TRACTF Detectives Ryan Tooker (Hurst PD) and James Wall (Saginaw PD) concluded a follow-up investigation in Hurst and decided to check a local motel known for narcotics activity and recovered stolen vehicles.  While running license plates in the parking lot, detectives received a felony vehicle hit from the Grapevine Police Department stating that the vehicle had been involved in an offense where an attempt was made to cash stolen checks from a motor vehicle burglary.  After researching the original Grapevine offense and obtaining a suspect description, detectives contacted the motel’s management and were able to connect the suspect vehicle to a particular room.  Detectives decided to conduct a knock-and-talk at the location and requested uniformed officers to assist.

After knocking, a female answered the door who matched the description of the possible suspect in the Grapevine offense.  The female initially lied to officers about being in the room by herself and four other individuals were eventually detained and identified.  The suspects were observed in the act of producing fraudulent checks and identification.  Investigators secured and executed a search warrant, seizing approximately 1000 items of evidence.   The five suspects were arrested on scene and later determined to be members or associates of the Aryan Circle.  Over the next several days, nearly 200 victims to vehicle burglaries, identity theft and other various offenses were identified in multiple jurisdictions throughout north Texas. The U.S. Secret Service was brought in because of the scope of the case and has since adopted it to file federal charges.

Submitted by Ivette Haley

A View of the Lake

On 10-21-11, Fort Worth PD Zero Tolerance Officer W. Snow stopped a pickup occupied by two brothers on a traffic violation.  The driver initially lied and gave a false name before finally identifying himself truthfully.   Both subjects were arrested on warrants and charges stemming from that initial traffic stop.

While conducting an inventory of the pickup prior to having it impounded for safekeeping, the ever-alert Officer Snow and his assist, Officer A. Morquecho, noticed that the large partially full fuel tank was leaking fuel into the bed of the pickup truck from hoses still connected to it.  It appeared to have been freshly removed from a semi-tractor truck.  When questioned, the brothers  admitted that they had removed the fuel tank and air tank from a stolen Peterbilt they were stripping in a field by Lake Arlington, assisted by others.  One of the brothers told officers where to find the truck and trailer.

Three additional officers were sent out, and they located the partially dismantled Peterbilt and a pneumatic tank semi-trailer.  They contacted the owner of the truck and trailer, who informed them that the two items had been stolen and that up until then he was unaware the items were missing form his lot.

Officers Snow and Morquecho stationed themselves a few blocks away from the recovery site to await the arrival of Commercial Auto Theft Detectives Hubbard and Holbert to arrive.  While waiting, they noticed a dirty white male walking from the direction of the field.  He appeared to be covered in what looked like engine grease, oil, and gas and was bleeding from a fresh arm wound.

They approached and asked what happened.  He told them he had cut himself while working on a friend’s truck and stated he was headed to the friend’s home.  He gave the address which the officers recognized as the same address given to them earlier by the brothers.  At that time he Arthur Williams identified himself and named the brothers.  He claimed to work for the owner.  When the officers questioned him about the Peterbilt in the field, he confessed he had stolen it.

Upon arrival on the scene, Detective Hubbard interviewed all three and they confessed that Arthur had arrived a week earlier with the stolen truck and trailer.  Arthur had told the brothers he needed to get rid of the truck.  They all agreed to dismantle the truck and sell the parts and metal.  They all admitted knowing the truck was stolen.

Charges were filed by Detective Holbert on all three suspects. 

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Now you see it—now you don’t.

On 10-05-11, a 1996 Freightliner equipped with a GPS unit was stolen from a Fort Worth company.  When the theft was discovered on 10-07-11, the owner checked on the GPS status and found that the data showed the truck’s engine had started in Fort Worth on Wednesday night, 10-05-11.  It had then turned off an hour later at a location in southeast Dallas.  The next day, Thursday 10-06-11, it showed to have been turned on and off twice, still showing to be at the same Dallas location.  The victim reported the theft to Fort Worth PD.  Our reporting officer requested aid from Dallas officers, who checked the area out.  They could not see into the truck repair business located there, but provided the Fort Worth officers with the address and owner information of the business.

FWPD’s Commercial Auto Theft Detective Wayne Browning investigated and generated a search warrant for the stolen truck.  Members of Dallas PD’s Salvage Unit, the Junkyard Dogs, assisted in executing the warrant.

When they searched the premises, they found that all that remained of the truck was the engine and the hood.  The hood was identified via points of identification previously provided by the owner.  A grinder was on the ground by the hood, which bore fresh grind marks where a secondary number had been recently ground off.

The two subjects present were the owner of the property and an employee who lived on the premises.  They both claimed that the engine and hood had been brought to them on Saturday 10-08-11 on a flatbed trailer, which did not match the GPS location information already obtained from the victim.  They claimed the prospective customer had requested that the engine and hood be installed on a truck they would be bringing in the next week.  However, neither owner nor employee could provide any names or contact information for the alleged customer.   They also had not have a repair order to support their claim.

The investigation also recovered two additional items (1) a 20-ft box trailer stolen out of Grand Prairie.  Inside it was a racing car that belonged to the owner of the business and (2) a single scooter that had been part of a stolen cargo load of scooters stolen out of Plano.  Both thefts were about a month old.

Warrants are expected to be issued on both suspects. 

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Follow the yellow brick road

Since August of 2011, Commercial Auto Theft Detective Ivy Haley had been looking into several truck loads of shingles stolen in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex.  Two of the thefts occurred in East Fort Worth close to East Loop 820.  The majority of the trucks and empty trailers were recovered in Fort Worth along IH-30, west of IH-35W.

On 11-01-11 Fort Worth PD patrol officers were dispatched to a Fort Worth address to search for a stolen 18-wheeler and truckload of shingles that had just been stolen from a Dallas truck stop.  The company’s driver informed Dallas PD that his truck had GPS.  Dallas officers notified FWPD that the GPS signal indicated the tractor truck was located somewhere on Blue Smoke Ct.  Officers checked the area, but no such truck and trailer were located.   An updated GPS address was given, and the officers located the truck and now empty trailer at 1700 East Freeway.

When Commercial Auto Theft Detective Ivy Haley received the case a few hours later, she also found that a surveillance camera in the area of the first location had captured the loaded trailer parked at a local roofing supply company on Blue Smoke Ct.  A search warrant was subsequently obtained later that day to search the roofing supply company premises.   A large quantity of shingles matching the description of the stolen items and of recent thefts were seized.  The roofing company’s surveillance digital video recorder was also seized.

The investigation is ongoing at this time. 

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Hide-and-Seek Anyone?

On 10-22-11, Fort Worth Police Officer MF Martinez noticed that a white male sitting on a motorcycle was pushing it with his feet through a parking lot parallel to the road.  He was later identified as Matthew Hooten.

What got Officer Martinez’ attention was that as he drove by, Hooten appeared to become suddenly nervous and focus his attention on the police car as it passed by.  Officer Martinez had also noted that there was no license plate on the motorcycle, so he turned around and entered the parking lot.  He asked about the license plate, and was told by Hooten that he had run out of gas and the license plate had fallen off.  Officer Martinez told him he was going to run the VIN on the motorcycle to verify he wasn’t stolen.   As he began to exit the patrol car, Hooten immediately took off running into a residential neighborhood, running through nearby yards and jumping over fences.

The FWPD helicopter Air One and other assist units were already in the area, so an immediate perimeter was set up, and a search was begun.   Hooten’s description was put out over the radio and the dispatcher announced shortly after that the motorcycle was showing to be reported stolen out of Grapevine.

Assist Officer R. Horton was searching the residence adjacent to the fence that Hooten had jumped over.  He decided to look inside one of the large trash cans provided by the City of Fort Worth to its residents.  When Officer Horton looked in, he found Hooten hiding inside the empty trash can.  Hooten told Officer Horton he didn’t know anything about any stolen motorcycle.  He was merely playing hide-and-seek with the resident of that house.  The homeowner came out to investigate the banging on the side of the house and the helicopter noise.  His children had told him they thought the helicopter had landed on the house because of the banging they heard.  He told Officer Horton that he did not know Hooten, and no one in the household had been been playing hide-and-seek with anyone.  Officer Martinez arrived and confirmed that Hooten was the person he had observed on the stolen motorcycle and who had then evaded him on foot.

Commercial Auto Theft Detective Wayne Browning inspected the motorcycle at the Fort Worth Police Auto Pound.  He found that the ignition had been defeated.  A screwdriver was jammed into the ignition, and it allowed the ignition to turn and operate the motorcycle.

When Detective Browning interviewed Hooten at the jail the next day, he continued to claim he was playing hide-and-seek at his homeboy’s house and hid in the trash can.  He declined to be interviewed further.

During the normal swap of information at the following monthly TAVTI Auto Theft intelligence meeting, Detectives Browning and Haley learned that Hooten is a very prolific motorcycle thief and very well known to detectives in other agencies, particularly Arlington PD and Grapevine. 

DFW METROPLEX CARGO THEFT TRENDS:

Theft of tractor truck, flatbed semi-trailer, and full shingle loads have again become prevalent in the DFW metroplex since August 2011 and the trend does not yet appear to be slowing down.  The majority of the recovered trucks and trailers have been found abandoned and sans loads within the City of Fort Worth.  The flooding along the northeast coast of the country is a recent example of a large scale disaster.   Building supply thefts and heavy equipment thefts often increase after similar disasters occur.

Thefts of empty shipping containers thefts and the chassis trailers bearing them have also increased.  Two patterns have appeared:  (1) the recovery of the containers, but no chassis trailers ever being found and (2) the containers disappearing forever (probably on a slow boat to South America, Asia, or Africa) and the chassis trailers being recovered abandoned, often near cartage/drayage or railway container yards. 

On January 25, 2011, Bill Skinner and Randy Andrews presented Devin Clanton, the owner of Spirits Liquor Company, with a plaque showing TAVTI’s appreciation for his continued support of our conferences.   Starting in 2003 in Ft Worth, Spirits has contributed merchandise and door prizes to every one of our conferences.  Their    high-quality merchandise is greatly appreciated by our organization, and we look forward to their support in the future. 

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