A former Harris County jailer wanted in connection with a fraudulent auto theft scam has been apprehended after allegedly renting a luxury vehicle and selling it on Facebook Marketplace.
Stevie Mosley, 23, is charged with felony fraudulent transfer of a car. She was arrested on Tuesday by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office at a local bail bond company. On Wednesday, she posted a $10,000 bond.
Mosley resigned from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office in April while under internal affairs investigation for fraternizing with an inmate, and he was later found unsuitable for rehire, according to an HCSO official.
According to a law enforcement source, the convict she was being probed for closely interacting with was Johnson, her current co-defendant, who was in detention at the time for another matter.
According to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, deputies found Mosley’s badge and outfit while searching for her last week. Mosley utilized her badge and uniform to acquire the victim’s trust in this instance
What happened?
In late July, a Houston man posted his Lexus ES 300 with Top Tier Fleet, a local organization that hires out expensive vehicles.
Mosley and Johnson rented the vehicle for four days, according to Christopher Orji, the company owner.
“She didn’t have anything wrong with her records,” Orji told me. “Everything really checked out.”
However, shortly after renting the vehicle, it was placed for sale on Facebook Marketplace for $10,000, according to court filings, under the profile name “Amber West,” which looks to be an AI-generated photo.
“It was a whole fiasco,” Orji remarked. “It’s the first time this has happened to me.”As if I’d never had a vehicle stolen.”
The women stopped replying to messages, and the vehicle’s tracker went dead, so Orji and his business partner, Obi Ezewudo, attempted to track it down with little success before activating the death switch.
However, a man who did not want to be recognized had already purchased the vehicle after learning about the Facebook advertising and met the women at an apartment complex off Washington Avenue.
Mosley arrived at their first encounter on July 27 dressed in a Harris County Sheriff’s Office outfit with an armored vest, identifying herself as law enforcement, and presenting a badge, according to records.
“It looked like an excellent deal… a little too good to be true,” the victim stated. “I was raised to trust the cops [and] she kept saying, ‘I’m law enforcement,’ you know, in a uniform.”
HCSO stated that staff who resign are required to return their equipment, but Mosley had not done so.
After test driving the Lexus and gaining trust since he thought he was buying from law enforcement, the victim deposited a $2,000 deposit using Zelle.
The next day, he told detectives that he wired an $8,000 wire transfer to Mosley’s account, but she claimed it did not go through and requested an additional $3,500 so he could retrieve the key fob.
Mosley sent the victim a bill of sale with the name “Amber West” on it and promised to mail him the title later.
According to records, he met with them again on the third day to discuss purchasing a Toyota Camry and expressed an interest in investing in their “auto business.” He also paid them an additional $4,500 for the Camry.
However, the victim took the Lexus to a dealership on the Katy Freeway a few days after engaging the kill switch.
He discovered the vehicle was registered to a different man, who had never agreed to sell it when he advertised it for rent with Top Tier Fleet.
“This is ludicrous. I don’t think this is something anyone should be dealing with,” Orji explained.
According to records, the victim lost a total of $18,000, while the owner of the Lexus received his vehicle back.
“They tricked me with a uniform that looked real, and now I feel ashamed,” stated the victim’s attacker. “They should not allow their uniforms and IDs to be unsecured in public.” Who knows what she is doing with that ID right now?”