Federal prosecutors say a 1972 Chevrolet Chevelle SS left a downtown St. Louis warehouse on New Year’s Eve with its ignition broken so it would start without a key. It crossed the Mississippi into Illinois, and three of the defendants then arranged to sell it in Alton for $9,500 in cash. According to the indictment, the car was worth about $50,000, and the sellers couldn’t produce a title.
The buyer is charged too. Ethan C. Humbert, 50, of Bunker Hill, faces one count of possessing a stolen motor vehicle. The indictment doesn’t accuse him of going to the warehouse. His count covers the Chevelle after it reached Madison County, and he is one of 11 southern Illinois residents named in the case.
The case is built as much around what happened after the theft as the theft itself: who stores the vehicles, who lists them online and who hands over cash. For a car built before immobilizers and transponder keys, the title and a believable price are about the only safeguards left once someone is inside the building. Federal law can make a buyer who ignores both part of the crime, if prosecutors can prove he knew. Every charge here is an allegation, and each defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Holiday trips with trailers, vans and a rented pickup
A federal grand jury returned the 10-page indictment, which was filed Sept. 9 as case 3:26-cr-30111 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced the case in a release dated Sept. 18. The press release gives only the outline. I read the indictment for the details…