SAN DIEGO – Nine members of the Hooligans Motorcycle gang are charged in a federal grand jury indictment with participating in a sophisticated scheme to steal scores of Jeep Wranglers and motorcycles in San Diego County using handheld electronic devices and stolen codes.
According to court records, the transnational criminal organization is responsible for the theft of more than 150 Jeep Wranglers worth approximately $4.5 million within San Diego County since 2014. The Hooligans used high-tech methods to disable security systems and steal away with Jeeps in just a few minutes, in the middle of the night, while unsuspecting owners slept nearby. After stealing the Jeeps in San Diego County, the Hooligans transported them to Tijuana, Mexico, where the vehicles were sold or stripped for parts.
Three of nine defendants are in custody, including two that were arrested today at a home in Spring Valley and at the border; the rest are fugitives believed to be in Mexico. The defendants are scheduled to make first appearances in federal court either today at 2 p.m. or tomorrow at 2 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mitchell D. Dembin.
“The joy ride is over for these Hooligans,” said Deputy U.S. Attorney Mark Conover. “For many of us, our cars are our most valuable possessions. These arrests have put the brakes on an organization that has victimized neighborhoods in a different way – by stealing something very personal. Something that required a lot of sacrifice to purchase.”
“Through the remarkable diligence and work ethic of Regional Auto Theft Task Force detectives, and the inter-agency cooperation with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office, a powerful case has been brought against the Hooligans gang,” said California Highway Patrol Captain Donald Goodbrand, head of the multi-agency Regional Auto Theft Task Force, which cracked the case.
“The work of law enforcement and crime fighting is 24/7,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Eric S. Birnbaum. “The FBI, along with our law enforcement partners, will continue to work day and night to stop these large-scale international crime rings in order to protect our neighborhoods and the assets that are central to the everyday lives of people in our community.”
The indictment alleges that the Hooligans did their homework before a theft by targeting a specific vehicle days before the actual theft would take place. They obtained the vehicle identification number in advance and then managed to get secret key codes, which allowed them to create a duplicate key for that particular Jeep. Then, during the theft, the Hooligans disabled the alarm system, programmed the duplicate key using a handheld electronic device, and quietly drove away without notice.
This was a method so new and technologically advanced it required investigators to exceed the ingenuity of the thieves.
In the summer of 2014, San Diego County was hit with a rash of Jeep Wrangler thefts. Almost all the thefts occurred in the middle of the night or early morning, and almost all of the Wranglers were equipped with alarms. Yet no alarms were ever triggered, and there was never any broken glass or other signs of forced entry. Agents from the Regional Auto Theft Task Force, known as RATT, at first were perplexed. But eventually they caught a break.
On September 26, 2014, a Jeep owner parked her 2014 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon in the driveway of her home in Rancho Bernardo. She returned to the driveway early the next morning to find the Jeep missing. Fortunately, the Jeep owner had recently installed a surveillance camera on her house, and it happened to be trained on the driveway.
The surveillance footage revealed that three men stole her Jeep around 2:30 a.m. by disabling the alarm and then using a key and a handheld electronic device to turn on the engine.
Based on the surveillance footage, law enforcement agents sent Chrysler a list of around 20 Jeeps that had recently been stolen in San Diego County and asked whether anyone had requested duplicate keys for the stolen Jeeps.
Sure enough, Chrysler responded that a duplicate key had been requested for nearly every one of the 20 stolen Jeeps. Moreover, nearly every one of the keys had apparently been requested through the same dealership in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The Jeeps’ owners did not request duplicate keys and were unaware that anyone had.
After additional investigation, agents began interrupting Jeep thefts and made several arrests. Through these arrests, agents learned that the Tijuana-based Hooligan Motorcycle gang was behind the operation.
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Case Number: 17cr1314
DEFENDANTS
AGE
CITY
*Jimmy Josue Martinez
31
Tijuana, Mexico
*Mario Alberto Echeverria-Ibarra
30
Tijuana, Mexico
Henry Irenio Pulido
24
Imperial Beach, California
Alejandro Guzman
23
Tijuana, Mexico
*Narciso Zamora Banuelos
29
Tijuana, Mexico
*Adan Esteban Sanchez Aguirre
26
Tijuana, Mexico
*Salvador Isay Castillo
21
Tijuana, Mexico
Reynaldo Rodriguez
33
San Diego, California
*Sebastian Ponce
20
Tijuana, Mexico
*Fugitives
Indictment_5_30 Search Warrant_5_30
SUMMARY OF CHARGES
Conspiracy to Commit Transportation of Stolen Vehicles in Foreign Commerce, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 371; Maximum Penalty Five years in prison
AGENCIES
Regional Auto Theft Task Force, which includes the following agencies:
U.S. Border Patrol
California Highway Patrol
National Insurance Crime Bureau
California Department of Insurance
California Department of Motor Vehicles
San Diego County District Attorney’s Office
San Diego County Probation Department
San Diego County Sheriff’s Department
Ice Enforcement and Removal Operationsand police departments from La Mesa, Chula Vista, National City, Oceanside and San Diego.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Agencies assisting with arrests include U.S. Marshals and San Diego Fugitive Task Force
The charges and allegations contained in an indictment or complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Description: The fiscal year of the data file obtained from the AOUSC
Format: YYYY
Description: The code of the federal judicial circuit where the case was located
Format: A2
Description: The code of the federal judicial district where the case was located
Format: A2
Description: The code of the district office where the case was located
Format: A2
Description: Docket number assigned by the district to the case
Format: A7
Description: A unique number assigned to each defendant in a case which cannot be modified by the court
Format: A3
Description: A unique number assigned to each defendant in a case which can be modified by the court
Format: A3
Description: A sequential number indicating whether a case is an original proceeding or a reopen
Format: N5
Description: Case type associated with the current defendant record
Format: A2
Description: A concatenation of district, office, docket number, case type, defendant number, and reopen sequence number
Format: A18
Description: A concatenation of district, office, docket number, case type, and reopen sequence number
Format: A15
Description: The status of the defendant as assigned by the AOUSC
Format: A2
Description: A code indicating the fugitive status of a defendant
Format: A1
Description: The date upon which a defendant became a fugitive
Format: YYYYMMDD
Description: The date upon which a fugitive defendant was taken into custody
Format: YYYYMMDD
Description: The date when a case was first docketed in the district court
Format: YYYYMMDD
Description: The date upon which proceedings in a case commenced on charges pending in the district court where the defendant appeared, or the date of the defendant’s felony-waiver of indictment
Format: YYYYMMDD
Description: A code used to identify the nature of the proceeding
Format: N2
Description: The date when a defendant first appeared before a judicial officer in the district court where a charge was pending
Format: YYYYMMDD
Description: A code indicating the event by which a defendant appeared before a judicial officer in the district court where a charge was pending
Format: A2
Description: A code indicating the type of legal counsel assigned to a defendant
Format: N2
Description: The title and section of the U.S. Code applicable to the offense committed which carried the highest severity
Format: A20
Description: A code indicating the level of offense associated with FTITLE1
Format: N2
Description: The four digit AO offense code associated with FTITLE1
Format: A4
Description: The four digit D2 offense code associated with FTITLE1
Format: A4
Description: A code indicating the severity associated with FTITLE1
Format: A3
Description: The FIPS code used to indicate the county or parish where an offense was committed
Format: A5
Description: The date of the last action taken on the record
Format: YYYYMMDD
Description: The date upon which judicial proceedings before the court concluded
Format: YYYYMMDD
Description: The date upon which the final sentence is recorded on the docket
Format: YYYYMMDD
Description: The date upon which the case was closed
Format: YYYYMMDD
Description: The total fine imposed at sentencing for all offenses of which the defendant was convicted and a fine was imposed
Format: N8
Description: A count of defendants filed including inter-district transfers
Format: N1
Description: A count of defendants filed excluding inter-district transfers
Format: N1
Description: A count of original proceedings commenced
Format: N1
Description: A count of defendants filed whose proceedings commenced by reopen, remand, appeal, or retrial
Format: N1
Description: A count of defendants terminated including interdistrict transfers
Format: N1
Description: A count of defendants terminated excluding interdistrict transfers
Format: N1
Description: A count of original proceedings terminated
Format: N1
Description: A count of defendants terminated whose proceedings commenced by reopen, remand, appeal, or retrial
Format: N1
Description: A count of defendants pending as of the last day of the period including long term fugitives
Format: N1
Description: A count of defendants pending as of the last day of the period excluding long term fugitives
Format: N1
Description: The source from which the data were loaded into the AOUSC’s NewSTATS database
Format: A10
Description: A sequential number indicating the iteration of the defendant record
Format: N2
Description: The date the record was loaded into the AOUSC’s NewSTATS database
Format: YYYYMMDD
Description: Statistical year ID label on data file obtained from the AOUSC which represents termination year