Six people have been charged with running an international auto theft ring that sent stolen cars from the Northeast as far as Africa, according to officials.
On April 22, 2026, a 15-count indictment was released, charging the following people with conspiracy to possess, sell, and transport stolen vehicles:
Related posts
- Jacob Hernandez, 29, of Los Angeles
- Dustin Wetzel, 23, of Woodbridge, Virginia
- James Young, 23, of Hyattsville, Maryland
- Khobe David, 24, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland
- Chance Clark, 25, of Waldorf, Maryland
A sixth person has been charged but remains at large and considered a fugitive. This individual’s indictment remains sealed.
According to officials, these criminals stole at least 20 cars in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and Pennsylvania, moved them across state lines, and sold them to purchasers in the United States and Ghana, an African nation.
“According to the allegations in the indictment, members of the conspiracy caused the vehicles – primarily recently manufactured Honda Civics and CRVs and Acura TLXs and RDXs – to be stolen and then transported them to storage locations that included a parking garage in Southeast Washington D.C. At the garage, co-conspirators allegedly disguised the appearances of the stolen cars by swapping license plates and obscuring Vehicle Identification Numbers. Before transporting the vehicles, the defendants disabled the stolen vehicles’ GPS and Bluetooth capabilities to inhibit detection,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said.
As part of this investigation, a search warrant was served on April 21 at an automobile storage facility in Decatur, Georgia, which is thought to be connected to the car theft enterprise.
Investigators are also attempting to connect the six charged suspects to the thefts of over 100 vehicles in the District of Columbia and over 30 vehicles in Prince George’s County, Maryland.
The Metropolitan Police Department, the Criminal Investigations Unit of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, and the FBI Washington Field Office all conducted investigations into this matter.
