14 held in NYC luxury-car stalking, theft ring

A sophisticated car theft ring "stalked" New Yorkers who drove Lexus SUVs and other mint-condition luxury vehicles that were stolen and shipped to clients in Africa, authorities said Wednesday.

In one instance, thieves allegedly followed one victim until she left her car to drop a child off at school in Brooklyn. When she returned an hour later, it was gone.

"This criminal enterprise used the streets of New York City as one giant showroom for stealing cars," New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said.

Police arrested 14 suspects in the theft of more than 100 cars. The ring operated mostly in Brooklyn and Queens.

The crime group then relied on a corrupt auto dealer employee in Florida to make copies of electronic keys synced to the individual vehicles, Schneiderman said.

Armed with the keys, the ring would store the stolen vehicles in Queens and the Bronx. The cars would later be loaded onto container ships at ports in New Jersey and Maryland for the voyage to Ghana, Senegal and Nigeria, investigators said.

"They were essentially stalking the people whose cars they wanted in New York," Schneiderman said at a news conference Wednesday at NYPD headquarters to announce Operation EZ Steal.

Schneiderman said 29 cars out of 108 had been recovered. Brokers would pay the ring $10,000 to $12,000 for a vehicle and could recoup three times that from buyers in Africa, police said.

Schneiderman said the investigation was made more challenging because some of the suspects spoke on the telephone in an African dialect that required special translators. The suspects also would change cellphones frequently, one investigator said.

NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said law enforcement officials were concerned that electronic keys could be duplicated by thieves who had contacts at auto dealerships.

"We think there is a greater responsibility on their part," Kelly said of the car dealers.

Kelly explained that the suspects traced vehicle histories online and were able to get the vehicle identification numbers so that duplicate keys could be made by someone working at a Florida dealership.

Kelly noted that auto thefts in the city have dropped about 95 percent over the past 20 years.