Massive North Texas luxury car theft ring busted by Grapevine police
GRAPEVINE, Texas - Police in Tarrant County say a year-long investigation into car thefts led them to an organized group stealing luxury vehicles across the metroplex.
Grapevine police arrested and charged seven young men in what investigators call an organized vehicle theft ring.
It started with an increase in vehicle thefts across the DFW Metroplex in 2022.
By March of this year, investigators had uncovered a violent conspiracy to steal and sell vehicles all over the metroplex. Multiple North Texas agencies were involved in this case.
The group targeted luxury vehicles. Investigators learned the suspects were reselling the stolen vehicles to people in the area, other states and across the border in Mexico.
Featured
Dallas PD hopes new system to report vehicle thefts will help them solve increasing number of cases
The number of stolen cars, trucks, and SUVs in Dallas jumped by 40% from 2022 to 2023. Less than a month ago, Dallas PD started a new approach to try and improve response times for the crimes.
Grapevine police began their investigation in 2023 when its city was plagued by a group stealing vehicles from public parking lots, specifically Grapevine Mills Mall.
Grapevine police arrested seven people: Henry Actwood Jr., Dylan Correa, Gavin Correa, Cristian Morel, Jeremiah Morel, Kevin Oates Jr. and Jose Perez.
The department says they were part of a prolific auto theft ring and are now charged with engaging in organized crime.
Grapevine investigators linked this group to more than 200 auto thefts across North Texas, including Irving, Addison, Grand Prairie, Euless and Dallas.
Police say the group became more violent as time went on, including evading arrest, armed robberies and ramming police vehicles.
The investigation went wide open last fall," said Grapevine Police Officer Amanda McNew. "Essentially, we have been trying to catch this group since 2022.
According to court documents, detectives used surveillance video, cell phone records, and Flock cameras to trace the group back to two homes in Dallas County.
Police say Perez posted photos of the luxury vehicles on his social media just days before his Garland home was raided by SWAT in March.
A neighbor sent FOX 4 these photos of the aftermath of the raid. Inside the garage were a white Lamborghini and a white Corvette.
Police also had evidence that "Perez may own a tiger which he keeps at his residence." However, a tiger was never found.
But inside Perez’s house, investigators seized cell phones, key fobs, ski masks, gloves, cash, tools and firearms.
According to court documents, the suspects would reprogram key fobs for the stolen vehicles.
Featured
Hyundai, Kia car thefts up more than 1,000% since 2020
New data shows Hyundai and Kia vehicles were stolen at a tenfold rate since a TikTok challenge exposed vulnerabilities.
Detectives also learned the group would meet up at Jeremiah’s home in Dallas. Police believe he is responsible for 50 auto thefts in the city of Dallas since January 2024 alone.
"It’s affecting hundreds of people. It’s over $9 million in stolen lost property," McNew said. "The more we can do to stop things like this and the bad out of our community, the better."
When some of the suspects were arrested for this case, they had active armed robbery and evading arrest warrants out of other cities like Richardson and Dallas.
Grapevine police say this case will likely go to the federal level.