CAMARILLO : More Suspects Sought in Car Theft Ring

By ERIC WAHLGREN

Sept. 28, 1995 12 AM PT

Authorities late Wednesday were still looking for suspects involved in a huge car theft operation after police arrested four suspected car thieves earlier this week in Camarillo.

Four foreign nationals in their late 20s to early 30s were arrested about 2 p.m. Tuesday after police said they dropped four stolen cars off at the Port of Hueneme. Police declined to release the names and origins of the one female and three male suspects, claiming authorities planned to serve additional arrest warrants Wednesday night and today in the Los Angeles area.

Investigators say the operation is part of an extensive network shipping stolen cars to Asia.

“People who read this would know that they are next,” said Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Jim Murphy, who is a group leader for the Taskforce for Autotheft Prevention. “Right now they don’t know that we are looking for them.”

Authorities found six stolen cars awaiting shipment overseas at the Port of Hueneme on June 8, but said those thefts were not related to this group of car thieves.

Police said authorities arrested the four suspects Tuesday as they were driving north on Las Posas Road at Pleasant Valley Road in a stolen car. According to police, the suspects had left four other stolen cars--two Toyotas, a Mitsubishi and an Isuzu--on the Tarmac at the Port of Hueneme. Police said the suspects had planned to ship the cars on a vessel bound for Taiwan, Japan and China.

Police estimate that more than 15 people are involved in the operation, which authorities say has resulted in about $15.5 million in losses this year alone. According to police, the thieves first steal vehicles from car lots or use phony identification to lease autos with a small down payment.

The thieves then drive the cars to area ports and ship them overseas, police said.

“There is an ordering process, a [car] apprehension process and a deportation process,” Murphy said. “Each group is separate, but they all work together.”

Murphy said that of 146,000 cars stolen in the city of Los Angeles last year, 15,000 were never recovered and probably shipped overseas.