(Bay City News) SAN JOSE Beginning a year ago, a group of self-proclaimed "gypsies" struck several South Bay car dealers using false identities and financial information to steal at least 113 vehicles, authorities announced at a news conference Tuesday.

Approximately 25 people have been arrested and police are seeking more than 50 additional suspects as part of a scam that lasted from August 2004 until approximately early February of this year, according to San Jose Police Lt. Vaughn Edwards, head of the Regional Auto Theft Task Force.

"The suspects were self proclaimed gypsies," Edwards said. "They were all connected either by family or some other connection."

Gypsies from across the country came to the San Jose area to participate in the scam after it was posted on an Internet chat room used by gypsies, according to Edwards.

"There is in fact a pretty good communication network via the Internet," Edwards said. "It's a very close knit group."

Suspects have been arrested as far away as Alaska and cars stolen in San Jose have been recovered across the country in states including New Jersey, Texas and Florida.

Authorities did not even become aware of the scam until late February when the car dealers finally reported it.

By then, the gypsies had largely stopped working the scam because car dealers had tightened their procedures for verifying a car buyer's financial information before allowing a vehicle to be driven off of the lot, Edwards said.

The car dealers targeted by the suspects were Capitol Honda, Carl Chevrolet, Courtesy Chevrolet and Chris's Dodge World. The most popular cars taken by the suspects were Honda Accords and Civics but some suspects took Hummers and Corvettes, Edwards said.

While these nomadic criminals appear not to be targeting South Bay car dealers any more they often move about the country doing the same type of scam over and over.

"Philadelphia and Chicago, they got hit with a ton of these," Edwards said.

Some of these criminals may remain in the Bay Area perpetrating other scams such as elder abuse. Residents, especially the elderly, should be cautious and report any suspicious activity or contacts to police, according
to Deputy District Attorney Tom Flattery.

"The best way to prosecute these cases is to make sure they don't happen in the first place," Flattery said.

Authorities have placed photographs of the suspects still at-large in this case on the Web sites of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, www.sccgov.org, and the San Jose Police Department, www.sjpd.org.

Anyone with information on the suspects' whereabouts or any information about this case should call Morrow or Detective Joe Mamone at (408) 808-4555.

(Bay City News)
Sep 20, 2005 3:35 pm US/Pacific