As investigators probe the disappearance of cars removed from Baltimore City’s impound lot without owners’ consent, the absence of the stolen cars from the city’s auction list raises questions about how vital automobile information was acquired by alleged thieves.
Charging documents allege conspirators obtained the vehicle identification numbers of several vehicles, including from a 2003 Volkswagen Passat and a 2004 Dodge Ram truck from the city’s twice monthly auction notice, from the city’s Web site listing unclaimed vehicles eligible for public auction. The auction list includes the make, model and VIN of the cars for sale.
But a review of auction lists published between Oct. 5 and Nov. 5 — around the time the thefts occurred — showed none of the vehicles that disappeared were scheduled to be auctioned.
Crucial to the case, investigators say, are false duplicate titles allegedly forged by former Maryland Motor vehicles Administration employee Issac Rupert used to dupe impound lot employees into releasing cars before their owners could retrieve them. The titles could not have been forged without the vehicle’s VIN, according to investigators.
“We do have several people locked up at this point, but the investigation is still ongoing and there are still things we are looking at,” said Troy Harris, a spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department.
Adrienne Barnes, spokeswoman for the City Department of Transportation, declined to comment on the apparent exclusion of the stolen vehicles from five auction lists spanning a period between Oct. 5 and Dec. 24 provided by the agency to The Examiner.
Antonio Brown, who discovered his 2003 Volkswagen Passat had already been picked up by someone else when he went to retrieve his car in October, said he was not notified his car was up for auction.
“I never got a letter,” Brown said. “I called them everyday to make sure my car was there, and they never said anything about an auction.”
State law requires the city to notify a vehicle’s owner 14 days before the car is put up for sale. An owner can claim a vehicle before the auction by paying any fines or storage fees owed before the vehicle is sold until the day of the auction.
The mystery surrounding how the information about the vehicles could have been obtained raises more questions about the car thefts that have been part of a far-reaching investigation by Baltimore city police.
Last month, police arrested and charged Rupert, who had been hired to work temporarily as a Maryland Motor Vehicles Administration title clerk, with forging three fake duplicate titles for vehicles that were later removed from the lot before the rightful owners could retrieve them. Juwann Smith also has been charged with using the fake titles and a forged notarized letter to obtain the 2003 Passat as well as a 2006 Toyota Matrix.
