MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A man charged with stealing luxury vehicles from Miami Beach is now part of an international car theft ring investigation by the Department of Homeland Security. Victims are now sharing how they fell prey to the complex scheme targeting vehicle shipping companies.
Speaking with 7News, Robert Falaguerra described how thieves managed to steal his Range Rover earlier this summer.
“They have a history of getting extremely nice cars, taking advantage of both technology and, like I said, gaps in the system to get their hands on them,” he said.
Surveillance video from Falaguerra’s South of Fifth condo in South Beach on June 29 shows his Range Rover loaded up on the back of a vehicle transport truck as it rolled away.
“The transportation company that I contracted with was fraudulent,” he said.
The luxury SUV was supposed to head to Chicago but never arrived.
“Both the dispatch for the transportation company and the driver stopped corresponding with me,” said Falaguerra.
Falaguerra isn’t the only one to find out his pricey ride didn’t reach its destination.
A woman who did not wish to be identified told 7News she had her dream Porsche stolen when it was meant to be shipped to Colorado from her condo near Mid-Beach.
“And I knew that I would never see it again,” she said.
Authorities say this type of scheme has become increasingly common: fraudsters targeting vehicle transport companies and brokers.
“Most people know that this type of theft ring is out there. You don’t typically expect it’s going to happen to you,” said Falaguerra.
Utilizing forged work orders, crooks gain unauthorized access onto transport dispatch sites and reroute vehicles to different destinations where they’re then stolen. Oftentimes these incidents happen without the knowledge of the drivers making the delivery.
“There’s no questioning they’re sophisticated. They’re able to take advantage of gaps in the system,” said Falaguerra.
The theft of the Porsche and Falaguerra’s Range Rover resulted in the arrest of Hakam Shahin on July 10. The 30-year-old from Oakland Park was first taken into custody in Broward in connection to another stolen car.
Neither the Porsche nor the Range Rover have been recovered.
Falaguerra suspects that his Range Rover is long gone.
“Shipped out of the country on a container ship or it’s been shipped up to New York or somewhere like that,” he said. “There were things that I clearly missed, that the valet clearly missed.”
A new federal arrest warrant issued for Shahin on Monday suggests Falaguerra is on the right track.
In the warrant, Shahin, who had since bonded out of jail, was arrested again by U.S. Marshals on Friday. He’s accused of conspiring to transport stolen motor vehicles from Newark, New Jersey, which were allegedly being “loaded into shipping containers” with some of them “bound for United Arab Emirates.”
The federal filing comes after a monthslong investigation by DHS.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Shahin remains behind bars in Broward County on a hold by U.S. Marshals. He’s expected to be extradited to New Jersey for those federal charges.
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