KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City, Missouri, man was
sentenced in federal court today for his role in a conspiracy to steal high-end
sport utility vehicles and pick-ups from out-of-state dealerships and transport
them to Kansas City for sale on the black market.
Timothy Hood, 38, was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge
Beth Phillips to three years and 10 months in federal prison without parole.
The court also ordered Hood to pay $212,998 in restitution.
On March 22, 2019, Hood pleaded guilty to one count of
conspiracy to transport stolen vehicles across state lines and one count of
aiding and abetting the transportation of stolen vehicles across state lines.
Hood admitted that he participated in a conspiracy from Dec. 1, 2015, to Feb. 2,
2016, to steal at least 10 high-end sport utility vehicles and pick-up trucks
from three out-of-state auto dealerships and deliver them to Kansas City.
Hood and co-conspirators organized small groups to steal 10
vehicles, worth approximately $710,933, from three dealerships in Nebraska and
Iowa. Co-conspirator Joshua Walker, 43, of Kansas City, Missouri, affixed
fraudulent vehicle identification numbers (VINs) onto the dashboard of the
stolen vehicles. Many of the fraudulent VINs used during the conspiracy were
true VINs from other vehicles owned by car dealerships and were utilized so
that the stolen vehicles would be difficult to trace and could be sold on the
black market.
All of the stolen vehicles have been recovered by law
enforcement officers and sold as salvage. Two of the stolen vehicles were
recovered at the residence of Hood’s girlfriend. On Sept. 22, 2016, Hood was
pulled over for a traffic infraction while he was driving one of the stolen
vehicles with a fraudulent VIN. Investigators searched Hood’s laptop, which was
in the vehicle. The computer contained scanned images of templates for
temporary Kansas license plates, insurance cards, notary stamps, bills of sale,
release of liens, and bar code labels of VINs. The search of the computer also
revealed searches of legitimate VINs that were fraudulently used or affixed to
other stolen vehicles in this case.
Walker pleaded guilty in a separate, but related, case to
his role in the conspiracy and to being a felon in possession of a firearm. A
sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent
Venneman. It was investigated by the FBI and the Kansas City, Mo., Police
Department.
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