Two suspects accused of selling stolen cars while employed at a legitimate car dealership in Toronto are now facing a combined 176 charges, police say.
Details of the investigation, dubbed Project Warden, were provided at a news conference at Toronto police headquarters on Wednesday morning.
Det. Dan Kraehling told reporters Wednesday that the investigation was launched in Aug. 2024 after officers discovered two suspects who worked as salespeople at a “branded” car dealership in the city who police believed were involved in the fraudulent sale of stolen vehicles.
The alleged fraud was reported to police by the dealership, police said.
Kraehling said the suspects allegedly used their position to acquire stolen vehicles and sell them to unsuspecting buyers.
“One of the accused employed as a salesperson at the dealership would source stolen vehicles from numbered companies. Some of these numbered companies they actually controlled themselves,” Kraehling said.
“The dealership’s own funds were then used to buy the vehicles, which were fraudulently presented as legitimate to unsuspecting buyers.”
He added that the accused would also generate “fictitious sales documents” using stolen and fake VIN (Vehicle Identification Numbers) to “further the deception.”
“They would also alter and modify Carfax reports so that they could present the vehicle as legitimate,” Kraehling said.
He said the stolen vehicle would be delivered to the buyer, who had no idea that the paperwork they had signed didn’t match the vehicle that they were given.
“In some cases, the stolen vehicles were falsely registered to vehicles that were not listed on the sales documents, including one individual who was deceased at the time of the sale,” the detective added.
During the week of Oct. 21, he said police executed eight criminal code search warrants at commercial garages, residences, and on motor-vehicles in the GTA.
During the searches, Kraehling said, officers recovered two suspected re-vinned vehicles as well as documents used in the fraud.
To date, Kraehling said, police have linked 22 fraudulent vehicle sales to the two accused.
He noted that police believe there may be other victims who are unaware that they purchased stolen vehicles.
“They were operating for about a year, from our understanding,” Kraehling said.
He said if the buyers had run their own independent vehicle report, the fraud would have been “relatively easy to detect.”
“There would be discrepancies between the one being presented to them by the salesperson and the one the one that they had in their hand,” he added.