DENVER (KDVR) — Federal authorities have arrested two men believed to be behind a national auto theft ring that primarily stole from major metropolitan airports and surrounding areas, including Denver.
Sadiel Noa-Aguila, 42, of Pharr, Nevada, and Miguel Baez-Echevarria, 36, of Las Vegas, were taken into custody on charges related to the exportation of stolen motor vehicles, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.
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Here’s how authorities say the scheme worked: First, co-conspirators would illegally enter vehicles and then use an access device that could either clone key fobs or authorize access to use the vehicle. They could then steal the car within minutes, according to an arrest affidavit for Noa-Aguila.
Then, GPS systems in the vehicles were commonly disabled. Co-conspirators would “often equip the vehicle with concealed Airtags to allow further tracking of the stolen vehicles. After the theft was effectuated, the stolen vehicles were commonly equipped with fraudulent license plates and ‘VIN swapped,’ which refers to fictitious VINs to elude law enforcement detection.”…