*The following was released by the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia's Office*
A 15-count indictment was unsealed today in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia and charges six individuals in connection with their roles in a conspiracy that allegedly stole at least 20 cars in the Washington metropolitan area and Pennsylvania, transported the vehicles across state lines, and sold the vehicles to buyers in the United States and the African nation of Ghana.
Law enforcement is continuing to investigate the defendants involved in this ring in relation to the theft of more than 100 vehicles in the District of Columbia and more than 30 vehicles in Prince George’s County, Maryland.
Officers also executed a search warrant yesterday at an automobile storage facility in Decatur, Georgia, which is suspected to be linked to the auto-theft ring.
The indictment follows a year-long investigation into an alleged D.C.-based auto theft ring that carried out vehicle thefts using electronic devices that enabled the conspirators to reprogram cars to accept previously blank key fobs.
Charged in the indictment are Jacob Hernandez, 29, of Los Angeles; Dustin Wetzel, 23, of Woodbridge, Virginia; James Young, 23, of Hyattsville, Maryland; Khobe David, 24, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland; and Chance Clark, 25, of Waldorf, Maryland. One additional defendant remains at large and is considered a fugitive. The indictment against that defendant remains sealed.
According to the allegations in the indictment, members of the conspiracy caused the vehicles – primarily recently manufactured Honda Civics and CRVs and Acura TLXs and RDXs – to be stolen and then transported them to storage locations that included a parking garage in Southeast Washington D.C. At the garage, co-conspirators allegedly disguised the appearances of the stolen cars by swapping license plates and obscuring Vehicle Identification Numbers. Before transporting the vehicles, the defendants disabled the stolen vehicles’ GPS and Bluetooth capabilities to inhibit detection.
All six of the indicted individuals are charged with conspiracy to possess, sell, and transport stolen motor vehicles.
This case is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia’s Criminal Investigations Unit, and the FBI Washington Field Office. Valuable assistance was provided by the Prince George’s County Police Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jacob Green and Michael Lee and Trial Attorney Haley Pennington are prosecuting the matter.