A man was arrested for running a title-washing ring in Central Florida following an almost year-long investigation.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office Auto Theft Unit began the investigation in March 2024, when deputies responded to the Plant City Tax Collector’s Office after 46-year-old Essa Cham attempted to use a fraudulent South Carolina title to retitle a 2022 Mercedes GLE 350 in Florida.
The investigation led detectives to 40-year-old Ahmed Njie, who was re-vining vehicles in order to fraudulently retitle the vehicles in Florida. In addition to Cham, detectives identified two other co-defendants helping Njie, 45-year-old Czedesia Simon and 42-year-old Seynabou Sall.
On June 2, 2024, deputies conducted a traffic stop on a driver in a Range Rover, which was a vehicle of interest in the investigation and suspected of being re-vined. The driver used a false name, but deputies later determined it was Njie. Njie was arrested and charged with False Name to Law Enforcement Officer and Driving While License Canceled, Suspended, or Revoked. The Range Rover was then inspected, and detectives located multiple fraudulent VIN stickers on the Range Rover. The vehicle was reported stolen on June 18, 2022, by the Lake City Police Department…