car stolen, wanted to get these saved.
Agents bust a chop shop and insurance fraud ring
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC 4 NEWS) - authorities put the brakes on a massive chop shop and insurance fraud ring spanning the Valley.
There are definitely some relieved car and motorcycle owners this morning. It was a massive, multi agency bust that spanned several months.
Agents recovered hundreds of thousands of dollars of stolen cars, motorcycles, atvs, even a flat bed trailer and a skip loader while serving 3 separate search warrants in 3 locations from West Jordan to Bountiful.
After agents recovered the stolen items hidden in storage units they contacted the rightful owners. Some were more lucky than others. One of the cars, a rare Honda Del Sol was stolen just monday night..we talked to the owner who got his baby back in good condition.
Thayne Christiansen said, "I'm ecstatic that I got my car back. I thought I'd never see it again, at least not in one piece. I got in at the perfect time. The time they stole it is the day before they got busted. So, they didn't even have time to tear anything out or take anything out of the car."
Richard Nelson wasn't so lucky. "I feel like I'm going to cry. It's like my first child and it's destroyed. I'm really upset"! His 2008 modified racing motorcycle was swipped about 3 weeks ago. It was stripped down to the frame last night when he came to recover it.
Not all of the cars at the chop shop were stolen, some owners simply get in over their heads, can't afford the payments and through friends or word of mouth, they turn their car over to the chop shop and then report it stolen. The fraud department says they are seeing about 4 of the "owner give ups" a week.
No arrests have been made in this chop shop insurance fraud operation. But, agents assure us they know of all the key players involved and will be making arrests very soon.