DMV Breaks Auto-Theft Ring, Recovers Luxury Cars

State investigators have cracked a sophisticated auto-theft ring that used counterfeited documents to sell more than $1 million worth of stolen luxury autos, the state Department of Motor Vehicles announced Thursday.

The arrests, the result of a yearlong investigation, broke one of the most lucrative auto-theft rings ever investigated by the DMV because of the value of the cars involved--22 Mercedes-Benzes, BMWs and Cadillacs worth $1,065,000, said Senior Special Investigator Bill Hall.

Nearly all of the vehicles have been recovered, Hall said.

A preliminary hearing has been scheduled Tuesday in Van Nuys Municipal Court for three alleged ringleaders, all charged with conspiracy to commit grand theft, said Hall. Three others have been charged and more arrests are expected.

Investigators learned of the scheme in early 1990, when a Mercedes-Benz dealer in Glendale phoned the DMV, Hall said. A car had been brought into the dealership for service, but its vehicle-identification number-- the serial number stamped on all autos when manufactured so they can be registered and traced--did not appear on the dealership’s computer list of Mercedes identification numbers.

Hall said he impounded the car after determining that the number had been counterfeited. He said he also determined that the owner did not realize the car was stolen, and had also received a counterfeit title.

Over the next several months, similar situations arose and a pattern emerged. The cars were either stolen from their owners at gunpoint or driven off dealership lots when left unattended with their keys. Then their titles were counterfeited.

The cars were stolen from throughout Southern California but sold primarily in the San Fernando Valley, where two of the alleged ringleaders live, Hall said.

One of them, Norberto Victor Repizo, 50, of North Hollywood, owned and operated a now-defunct printing shop that was allegedly used to prepare the fake documents, Hall said. Repizo’s business, Rainbow Press, was located in Lincoln Park.

The other alleged ringleaders are Carlos Manuel Caban Cruz, 53, of Van Nuys, and Juan Bueno Hernandez, 29, of Glendale.

Hernandez has already pleaded guilty to grand theft for his role in the scheme but still faces the conspiracy charge.

All three were held in lieu of $50,000 bail each, Hall said. If convicted, they could face a maximum of nine years in state prison, according to the DMV.

Also arrested were Edith Palencia, 28, of Glendale, who pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property and was placed on probation; Sal Ingrassia, 50, of Los Alamitos, who is awaiting trial on charges of receiving stolen property; and Juan Malagna, 32, of Van Nuys, who was arrested Thursday and charged with grand theft and giving false evidence of registration.