Scrapped Rides Illegally In Ozone Pk.
Five men have been charged with stealing 31 cars in and around Queens and selling them to an Ozone Park scrap yard for cash, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown announced last Thursday, Mar. 14.
The defendants were reportedly able to sell the stolen cars due to a legal quirk allowing individuals to dispose of vehicles without proof of title.
Law enforcement sources said the suspects were able to sell the automobiles by producing a driver’s license and filling out a DMV form that states one of them was the owner. To scrap a car this way, the vehicle must be at least eight model years old and worth less than $1,250.
Most of the vehicles were late ’90s models that fetched the defendants between $400 and $700.
The suspects brought the stolen vehicles to Atlantic Recycling at 97- 30 Atlantic Ave. in Ozone Park.
Officers recovered 23 of the 31 stolen vehicles before they could be crushed for scrap.
Four of the men are Queens residents. One lives in Brooklyn. All five are charged with fourth-degree grand larceny, fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, third degree unauthorized use of a vehicle and first-degree falsifying business records.
Detectives Rick Seifts and William Rein of the NYPD Auto Crime Division conducted the inves- tigation.
They worked under the supervision of Sgt. Joseph Ricotta, Lt. Christopher Gately and Deputy Inspector Joseph Kenny and the overall supervision of Chief Anthony Izzo of the Organized Crime Control Bureau.
Assistance was provided by Supervising Investigator Gerard Harrison of the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles.
