Michigan AG: 6 arrested in violent auto theft ring involving $30M in stolen vehicles

State and local police have cracked an auto theft ring that stole over 400 cars over the last year, including hundreds of new vehicles from factory and dealership lots, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Thursday.

Dozens of detectives from a score of police departments and the Michigan State Police took part in the investigation that resulted in six arrests on Wednesday, while police seek two more suspects in the ring that operated across metro Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Ohio, Nessel said.

The thieves used computerized devices to reprogram key fobs, allowing them to enter new cars, and they displayed violence usually not linked to car thefts, often putting security guards’ safety at risk, Nessel said.

“People were literally shooting at police officers through the windows of these cars, and ramming security vehicles. These are not victimless crimes,” she said.

“It’s been like a Grand Theft Auto video game,” except that more than $30 million in vehicles were stolen and few have been recovered, she said.

Nessel spoke at a news conference in Troy, at the city’s training facility for firefighters, as a convenience for appearances by the Troy police detectives, who began the investigation in August. They then brought their findings to the attorney general’s staff in March, she said, thanking Troy’s officers “for starting this extremely important investigation.”

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Thieves sold the cars for “pennies on the dollar,” typically netting a few thousand dollars for vehicles with sticker prices of $60,000 to $80,000, Nessel said.

On a table in front of her were items seized on Wednesday from the six men arrested, including a pile of $100 bills, nine firearms, dozens of key fobs set to be reprogrammed, and the reprogramming devices, called “Pro-pads.”

Those arrested — from Detroit, Troy, and Wixom — are being held behind bars in Oakland County while awaiting arraignments on Friday, Assistant Attorney General Eric Sterbis said.

Along with other charges, each will face two charges that are far more serious than merely auto theft. They two are both 20-year felonies: conducting a criminal enterprise; and use of a computer to commit a crime.

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The suspects' names are being withheld until their arraignments. The youngest, an 18-year-old from Troy, already has a long criminal history.

“We’ve been watching him since he was 14,” when the teen drove off in his first stolen car, said a Troy officer, who asked that his name not be published.

Rod Alberts, executive director of the Detroit Auto Dealers Association, said more than two dozen dealers lost new cars to the ring.

“We had one dealer lose nine cars in one night,” Alberts said.

Nessel said her department and the officers involved in the investigation hope to track down those who bought the stolen cars “and hold them accountable,” although that will be difficult. Some of the cars have been “chopped” for parts while others were found abandoned, and police think that some were shipped overseas. Her additional hope, she said, is that Michigan will join 13 other states that require strict licensing for those who possess the devices used to reprogram key fobs, which should be in the hands only of dealership technicians and locksmiths, she said.

A bill to update Michigan law governing the devices is in the state Legislature.

“With the vehicles’ advance in technology, we need the law to catch up,” she said.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan AG: 6 arrests made in violent auto theft ring