Police Just Busted a Crime Ring That Was Rerouting Deliveries of Rolls-Royces, Ferraris, and More
Anyone currently awaiting delivery of a high-end automobile in South Florida can sleep a little easier tonight
Local authorities made three arrests last week in connection to a criminal ring that has been stealing exotic cars in the region, WSVN 7 News Miami. The accused are said to have broken into computer systems to reroute delivery locations of the stolen vehicles.
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The arrests were made as part of an investigation that was launched after a Rolls-Royce Dawn belonging to Nader Eldamouni was stolen while being transported between Miami Beach and Michigan. Police found that thieves were targeting dispatchers and transporters that work with car delivery services. They infiltrate their computer systems, change the delivery location, and then use paperwork that looks legitimate to take possession of the vehicles. This method, CarScoops notes, has been used to steal everything from the Dawn to a Ferrari 488 Pista.
Once authorities were aware of how the scheme worked, a controlled delivery was set up in the city of Aventura. At the set time, three men pulled up in an unidentified Bentley and a Rolls-Royce Cullinan to pick up the keys to a Lamborghini Urus. After they were observed paying $700 for the delivery, officers moved in and arrested all three.
The three men have been identified as 41-year-old Yuriy Korotovskyy, 43-year-old Hrant Nazarian, and 53-year-old Arman Gevorgyan. Following the sting operation, the men were taken into custody and charged with grand theft, dealing in stolen property, and conspiracy to commit organized fraud. They are believed to be connected to Armenian and Russian brokers who reroute the deliveries.
Despite the arrests, Eldamouni's Dawn has yet to be recovered.
If this all sounds a little familiar it's because this method has been utilized to steal pricy automobiles several times over the last year. In June, a tech-savvy swindler, again in South Florida, hacked into a delivery service's driver's portal and used the information they accessed too to reroute delivery of a Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 and Rolls-Royce Cullinan. Then, in October, MLB star Kris Bryant's Lamborghini Huracán Tecnica was stolen by a group of ne'er-do-wells who hacked into the systems of the delivery service he'd hired to transport the vehicle from Denver to Las Vegas. In recovering the supercar, authorities also uncovered another theft ring that was using fake documents and VIN switching to steal and traffic luxury vehicles.
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San Francisco Chronicle
a day ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Sold-out musical about Luigi Mangione adds new S.F. date
San Francisco's sold-out musical about Luigi Mangione has extended its run due to popular demand. ' Luigi: The Musical,' inspired by the social media frenzy surrounding the 27-year-old suspect in the murder case of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has added a July 13 performance at the Independent. The music venue on Divisadaro Street has a capacity of 500, roughly five times that of the Taylor Street Theater, where the show premieres Friday, June 13. All five of the production's originally announced June performances at the Taylor Street Theater, the former Exit on Taylor in the Tenderloin, sold out more than a month ago. 'Luigi: The Musical' was developed by Nova Bradford, Arielle Johnson, André Margatini and Caleb Zeringue, and is staged in the style of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical 'Chicago.' The satirical show is set at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center and features Mangione alongside a fictional group of prison mates including Sean 'Diddy' Combs, whose sex trafficking and racketeering trial began last month, and fallen FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. 'Luigi the character, as we've written him, is dead serious about his thoughts and goals,' Johnson previously told the Chronicle. 'There's something campy about the whole 'good guy with a gun' premise.' As Johnson and his colleagues prepared for the stage production's June 13 premiere, the real Mangione pleaded not guilty to four federal charges against him for the murder of Thompson in December. He is next set to appear in court June 26. During the appearance, a trial date may be set. Mangione spent his 27th birthday last month at the Metropolitan Detention Center, where he has been held without bail since Dec. 19. To mark the occasion, he sent a list of 27 things he's grateful for to various people who have been writing him letters while he has been locked up. The list has since gone viral on social media and features entries such as 'memes' and 'Latinas for Mangione,' both nods to the internet discourse around his arrest. Mangione also revealed that around 30,000 people donated more than $1 million to his legal fund, and expressed gratitude for the various books and letters that he has received.

Los Angeles Times
a day ago
- Los Angeles Times
Agitators? Narcissists? L.A. politicians search for the words to sum up protest chaos
Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It's David Zahniser, with an assist from Julia Wick, giving you the latest on city and county government. L.A.'s Little Tokyo neighborhood was a mess on Monday. Windows were shattered in multiple locations. Graffiti seemed like it was everywhere. State Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez (D-Los Angeles) had had enough. Gonzalez, who took office in December, had already voiced outrage over the immigration raids being conducted in his downtown district. But this time, he took aim at the people he called 'anti-ICE rioters,' portraying them as narcissists and urging them to stay far away from the demonstrations happening downtown. 'Causing chaos, damaging neighborhoods, and live-streaming for likes helps no one,' he said in a lengthy press release. 'Our elders, small businesses, and public spaces deserve better.' Gonzalez did not stop there. He chided demonstrators for spray-painting historic landmarks and pointing fireworks at police, telling them that 'terrorizing residents is not protest.' 'If you're out here chasing clout while our neighbors are scared and storefronts are boarded up — you're not helping, you're harming,' said Gonzalez, a former chair of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. 'You're playing right into Trump's hands and undermining the very movement you claim to support.' Politicians in L.A. have been reacting all week to the reports of violence, theft and vandalism that accompanied a week of anti-ICE protests. But each has had a somewhat different way of naming the perpetrators — and summing up their actions. Los Angeles City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, whose district also includes much of downtown, was more muted in her description of the people who created mayhem this week, referring to them as 'agitators' and 'opportunists.' 'Look, for the most part, this has been a peaceful protest,' she said in an interview. 'But there are definitely some other folks that join that are not here to support immigrants and peacefulness, but are taking this as an opportunity to do something else. And I definitely condemn that.' Jurado has spent the last few days highlighting her efforts to secure small business loans for struggling downtown businesses, especially those that were vandalized or had merchandise stolen. She is also pushing for city leaders to find another $1 million to pay for the legal defense of immigrants who have been detained or face deportation. At the same time, the events of the past week have put Jurado in an awkward spot. Luz Aguilar, her economic development staffer, was arrested last weekend on suspicion of assaulting a police officer at an anti-ICE protest. Normally, an aide like Aguilar might have been tasked with helping some of the downtown businesses whose windows were smashed or wares were stolen. Instead, Jurado faced questions about Aguilar while appearing with Mayor Karen Bass at the city's Emergency Operations Center. The LAPD has repeatedly declined to provide specifics on the allegations against Aguilar, whose father is Chief Deputy Controller Rick Cole. The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union representing rank-and-file officers, said in an email to its members that Aguilar has been accused of throwing a frozen water bottle at officers. Neither Cole nor Jurado's staff would confirm or refute that assertion. Jurado, in an interview, also declined to say whether she sees her staffer as one of the agitators. 'She is on unpaid leave, and we'll see what happens,' she said. The search for the right words has not been limited to downtown politicians. Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson offered a lengthy soliloquy, saying police in recent days had encountered 'looters coming out of stores with merchandise in their hands' who are using the ongoing protests as cover. 'Someone at midnight running around looting, even though there was a protest earlier, that person's not a protester,' Harris-Dawson told his colleagues Tuesday. 'That person's a looter. That person's a criminal.' The same terms apply after Dodgers victories, Harris-Dawson said, when someone in a street celebration decides to set things on fire. 'We don't say Dodger fans burned a building. We say criminals burned a building,' he said. Bass declared a local state of emergency in the wake of the downtown chaos, citing the violence against police, the vandalism and the 'looting of businesses.' The declaration, issued Tuesday, simply refers to the perpetrators as criminals. The mayor sounded genuinely frustrated, telling The Times on Thursday that she was 'horrified' by the graffiti that covered the Japanese American National Museum, which highlights the struggle of immigrants, and other buildings in Little Tokyo. 'Anybody that is committing vandalism or violence does not give a crap about immigrants,' she told another news outlet. Gonzalez, for his part, said he produced his anti-rioter screed after hearing from senior citizens in Little Tokyo who were terrified to leave their homes and walk into the melee on the street. 'They were literally throwing fireworks at cops' faces at San Pedro and 3rd,' he said. Other downtown residents sounded unfazed, telling The Times that the disruptions were 'kind of the usual.' In recent years, major sports victories have been just as likely to end with illegal fireworks, graffiti and burning or vandalized vehicles downtown — even when the games aren't played there. Jurado said she is searching for 'creative solutions' to prevent such crimes in the future, such as promoting the fact that downtown businesses are in 'full support of the protests.' 'There were Little Tokyo businesses that weren't graffitied on because they had a sign on the window that was pro-actively 'Know your Rights,' or against ICE,' she said. 'So they didn't get graffitied on. At least that's from my anecdotal evidence.' 'So I think if we put that at the forefront, we can help educate our community members to keep our neighborhoods safe and beautiful,' she said. — CITY IN CRISIS: The crisis sparked by the immigration sweeps reverberated throughout the week, with Bass urging President Trump to end the raids, ordering a curfew for downtown and Chinatown and speaking out against the tackling of U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla by federal agents. By the time the week ended, City Hall and surrounding government buildings were being guarded by scores of law enforcement officers from around the state — Hermosa Beach Police, San Fernando Police, Riverside County Sheriff, Santa Barbara County Sheriff, just to name a few. Amid the heavy police presence, Friday's city council meeting was canceled. — TAKING OFF THE GLOVES: For most of her time at City Hall, Bass has avoided public confrontations with other elected officials, including President Trump. But with ICE fanning out across L.A. and her city engulfed in protest, those days are over. As she navigates the crisis, Bass has also gained the opportunity for a crucial reset after the Palisades fire. — CHAFED AT THE CHIEF: Earlier in the week, members of the City Council grilled LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell over his agency's handling of anti-ICE protests. Harris-Dawson bristled at the idea that the LAPD would refer to federal immigration authorities as 'law enforcement partners.' 'If we know somebody is coming here to do warrant-less abductions of the residents of this city, those are not our partners,' he said. 'I don't care what badge they have on or whose orders they're under. They're not our partners.' — PADILLA PUSHBACK: City Councilmember Imelda Padilla, in a separate line of questioning, asked if the LAPD could warn city officials when it hears from federal law enforcement that immigration raids are coming. McDonnell said such actions would amount to obstruction of justice. 'That would be completely inappropriate and illegal,' he said. — A 'MIX OF EMOTIONS': McDonnell has been offering support to LAPD officers who may have mixed feelings about the ongoing federal crackdown. In one message, he acknowledged that some in the majority-Latino department have been 'wrestling with the personal impact' of the immigration sweeps. 'You may be wearing the uniform and fulfilling your duty, but inside, you're asked to hold a complex mix of emotions,' the chief wrote. — WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS: Los Angeles City Councilmember John Lee broke his silence on the pivotal 2017 Las Vegas trip that later resulted in the criminal conviction of his onetime boss, Councilmember Mitchell Englander. Lee took the virtual witness stand last week in his own Ethics Commission case, repeatedly denying allegations that he accepted gifts in Vegas — food, drink, travel — in violation of city laws. At one point in his Zoom testimony, Lee said he stuffed $300 into the pocket of businessmen Andy Wang, a key witness in the proceedings, in an attempt to cover his share of the expenses at a pricey nightclub. — RAPID RESPONDERS: Faced with an onslaught of ICE raids locally and threats from politicians nationally, L.A.'s immigrant rights groups are in the fight of their lives. Those groups have been participating in the Los Angeles Rapid Response Network, a coalition of 300 volunteers and 23 organizations formed last year to respond to ICE enforcement. — COUNTING THE BEDS: We told you last week that City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo was the city's star witness in its court battle with the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights, which is seeking to place the city's homelessness programs in receivership. On Wednesday, Szabo filed a declaration in federal court that pushes back on assertions that the city may have massively double counted the homeless beds it included under a pair of legal settlements. Szabo said city officials identified 12 instances of double counting in an agreement requiring 12,915 beds, and would appropriately correct the record. — DEAL FOR MORE COPS? It seems like a lifetime ago, but last weekend Bass announced that she had struck a deal with Harris-Dawson, the council president, to find the money to restore her plan for hiring 480 police officers next year. Bass said Harris-Dawson has committed to identify the funding for those hires within three months. Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, who sits on the budget committee, said he is open to finding the money but was not part of any promise to do so within 90 days. That's it for this week! Send your questions, comments and gossip to LAontheRecord@ Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Saturday morning.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Pro-Trump Christian artist issues ‘Confession' after several men accuse him of sexual assault
In a statement released to social media, Grammy Award-winning singer Michael Tait admits to abusing drugs and touching men without their consent. Grammy-winning contemporary Christian recording artist Michael Tait is coming clean after being accused of sexually assaulting several men, including young, male musicians. Tait, a former member of the Christian music groups DC Talk and Newsboys, released 'My Confession' in a statement posted to social media. 'Recent reports of my reckless and destructive behavior, including drug and alcohol abuse and sexual activity, are sadly, largely true,' said Tait, who has supported both presidential campaigns of President Donald Trump. 'I am ashamed of my life choices and actions. I will simply call it what God calls it–sin.' Tait, a 59-year-old native of Washington, D.C., is wildly successful in the Christian music industry, having sold 18 million albums and won four Grammy Awards. Much of his music has encouraged young Christian listeners to resist liberalism and live a life of sobriety, abstinence, and heterosexuality, reports The Guardian, which published an in-depth investigation of his alleged sexual misconduct and drug abuse. Tait's music was also part of the soundtrack to Trump's right-wing Make America Great Again, or MAGA, political movement. His song with Newsboys, 'God's Not Dead,' became a MAGA fixture. The 2011 song's popularity emerged during the conservative evangelical resistance to Barack Obama's presidency. Tait is credited with helping to connect Trump to white evangelical voters, who played a significant role in his 2016 election. During the 2016 election cycle, Tait, invited by Trump's friend Pastor Paula White, was among a group of Christians who prayed over Trump before a Florida campaign stop. Newsboys also notably performed for Trump at the White House in 2019. 'I love you, I support you, and I'm one of the growing number of African Americans who love you,' Tait once told Trump during a 2019 video expressing his support for Trump's prison reform policies. According to The Guardian, Tait is accused of engaging in a pattern of manipulative and abusive behavior with young male musicians in the early 2000s. Some of the alleged victims claim Tait offered the 'possibility of career or artistic opportunities.' When some men rebuffed him, Tait allegedly cut off all contact with them. The singer is accused of hosting parties at his home in Nashville, where he would encourage the men to drink alcohol and use drugs before he allegedly made sexual advances. At least two men said they were secretly drugged and were left in and out of consciousness, and were unable to consent to sexual acts. The alleged male victims claim Tait touched them without their permission. In his 'Confession,' Tait admits to once drinking 'far too much alcohol' and touching men in 'an unwanted sensual way.' He revealed that in early January, he spent six weeks in a Utah treatment center for his cocaine abuse and has been sober for six months. The Christian artist said he was 'ashamed' for living a double life and lying to his family, friends and fans. 'I have hurt so many people in so many ways, and I will live with that shameful reality for the rest of my life,' he wrote. 'I accept the consequences of my sin and am committed to continuing the hard work of repentance and healing work.' More must-reads: Owner of Dominican club whose roof collapsed and killed 236 is arrested along with his sister Israeli strikes on Iran lead to new test of Trump's ability to deliver on 'America first' agenda As legal fight over Guard deployment plays out, Noem vows to continue Trump's immigration crackdown