SOUTHLAND UNIT DRIVEN TO TRAP CAR THIEVES.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

In the nation's car-theft capital, a countywide task force set up to stop professional car thieves recorded a 36 percent increase in arrests in 2000.

After seven years of decline, auto thefts jumped 15 percent last year in the city of Los Angeles, 12 percent in the San Fernando Valley and 8 percent in Los Angeles County.

``We call the San Fernando Valley the 'San Fraudando' Valley because quite a few of the fraud cases we get involving vehicles always seem to have a connection to the Valley,'' said sheriff's Sgt. John DeMooy, an investigator for the Taskforce for Regional Autotheft Prevention, or TRAP.

Officials have targeted auto-theft rings that steal and ship high-end vehicles overseas and brazen professional thieves who use increasingly sophisticated scams. Toyota Camrys and Corollas and Honda Accords are the most popular targets.

``There is an increasingly wide variety of organized vehicle-theft rings operating in the Greater Los Angeles Area,'' said Matthew McLaughlin, spokesman for the FBI. ``That's primarily because this is the No. 1 car market in the world. When you have the most cars, you have the most thefts.''

Funded by a $1 registration fee that county residents pay to the Department of Motor Vehicles, TRAP is the largest auto-theft detail in the county with 42 officers from the Sheriff's Department, Los Angeles Police Department and other law enforcement agencies.

TRAP, started in 1993, made a record 620 arrests and recovered 1,390 vehicles worth $30.3 million last year, up from 456 arrests and the recovery of 1,073 vehicles worth $17.3 million in 1999, according to a report TRAP presented Jan. 17 to the Countywide Criminal Justice Coordination Committee.

``We recovered more cars and more high-end vehicles last year,'' said sheriff's Capt. Dennis Conte, commander of TRAP. ``A 2000 Aston Martin worth $140,000, a 2000 Land Rover worth $35,000, a 2000 Mercedes worth $60,000 and a 1999 Mercedes worth $40,000 we recovered in Marina del Rey substantially increased the dollar amount.''

Officials attribute part of the rise in auto thefts to international organized auto-theft rings that steal expensive new cars and SUVs and ship them overseas where the vehicles can sell for twice as much.

``Los Angeles is the hotbed of organized cargo theft because the biggest port in the country is right here,'' U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Thom Mrozek said.

Friday at a shipping yard in Long Beach, U.S. Customs officials and TRAP investigators found four stolen vehicles worth $150,000, including a Lexus LS 400, Ford Explorer, Dodge Caravan and a special edition Lincoln Cartier, hidden behind bales of old clothes in corrugated steel containers.

``These cars were shipped to the Middle East to be sold by one of our prominent thieves over here,'' Conte said. ``It was determined that the bill of lading was incorrect.''

U.S. Customs Supervisory Inspector Carmen De Anda said TRAP investigators notified the agency last January that they suspected the vehicles were stolen, so she ordered copies of the shipping documents and discovered discrepancies in the description of the cargo.

U.S. customs officials spent months negotiating with Syrian customs officials, experiencing language barriers and tariff and policy problems.

``The international flavor of these investigations creates significant delays in getting the vehicles back,'' Conte said.

Investigators learned about the vehicles being shipped to the Middle East after serving search warrants at locations in Monrovia and San Dimas, and they are investigating a San Gabriel Valley resident.

``It's increasing because there are so many vessels here from all different countries of the world,'' De Anda said.

Supervisory Agent Brett Millar said the FBI is focusing on the shipment of stolen vehicles out of Long Beach.

``For the most part they are luxury vehicles ... as well as SUVs and trucks. A more recent trend is the vehicles being stolen and being driven or shipped in containers to Mexico.''

Many vehicles are stolen by using fraudulent applications and false identities to purchase or lease automobiles.

``We are finding a lot of cases where they steal cars right off the lot in the Valley,'' Conte said.

In one scheme called the ``VIN switch,'' car thieves illegally duplicate vehicle titles, obtain license plates by using another car's VIN - Vehicle Identification Number - and take that information to the Department of Motor Vehicles, where they obtain new registration papers.

In a scam called ``subplating,'' thieves drive around and write down license plate numbers. They go to the DMV and say their license plate and title were lost or stolen, and the agency issues new ones. That enables a thief to disguise a similar, stolen vehicle as one with a clean record.

With one of their six stations based at a Valley auto dealership, TRAP investigators have made a number of busts in the Valley involving subplating, VIN switches and other scams.

``We have a lot of problems with chop shops in the Valley,'' said Cmdr. Val Paniccia of the LAPD's Valley Bureau.

Chop shops are operations where stolen vehicles are dismantled and sold for parts.

Last year, the LAPD Commercial Auto Theft unit recovered 277 vehicles worth $3.3 million and made 297 arrests. In 1999, officers recovered 248 vehicles worth $2.8 million and made 423 arrests.

CAPTION(S):

photo, 2 charts

Photo:

(color) Sheriff's Deputy Jeff Enfield with the San Gabriel auto-theft task force in San Gabriel checks a Lexus LS 400 at a shipping yard in Long Beach. Several vehicles had been loaded inside shipping containers under bundles of clothes.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer

Chart: (1) CAR THEFTS IN HIGH GEAR

(2) TASKFORCE FOR REGIONAL AUTOTHEFT PREVENTION (T.R.A.P.)

SOURCE: T.R.A.P.; Los Angeles Police Department