A federal indictment unsealed in Washington, D.C., charges six people in a scheme that used electronic key fob tools to steal and move more than 130 vehicles across state lines, with some cars allegedly destined for buyers in the U.S. and Ghana.
A 15-count indictment was unsealed today in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia charging six individuals in a conspiracy that federal prosecutors say stole at least 20 cars in the Washington metropolitan area and vehicles in Pennsylvania, transported them across state lines, and sold them domestically and overseas. The document lays out a coordinated pattern of theft, storage and shipment that investigators tied to an organized ring. Those factual allegations form the basis of the counts now pending in court.
Law enforcement officials say the same ring is under investigation for many more thefts beyond the ones listed in the 15-count indictment, with probes covering more than 100 stolen vehicles in the District of Columbia and more than 30 in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Local and federal investigators describe a persistent problem that spanned months and crossed jurisdictional lines. The scale of the alleged operation is what prompted multi-agency coordination.
Charged in the indictment are Jacob Hernandez, 29, of Los Angeles; Dustin Wetzel, 23, of Woodbridge, Virginia; James Young, 23, of Hyattsville, Maryland; Khobe David, 24, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland; and Chance Clark, 25, of Waldorf, Maryland. One additional defendant remains at large and is considered a fugitive. The indictment against that defendant remains sealed.
Officers also executed a search warrant yesterday at an automobile storage facility in Decatur, Georgia, which is suspected to be linked to the auto-theft ring. That action reflects investigators following leads to storage and shipping hubs used to hold or move stolen cars. Evidence seized in Georgia could tie the storage locations back to the Washington-area activity.
Investigators say the ring relied on electronic devices that allowed conspirators to reprogram vehicles to accept previously blank key fobs, a high-tech twist on classic car theft. According to the indictment, the scheme primarily targeted recently manufactured Honda Civics and CR‑Vs and Acura TLXs and RDXs, models that are reportedly easier for this method to compromise. Prosecutors allege the group exploited that vulnerability repeatedly to create a steady flow of vehicles for resale.
Once taken, the cars were moved to storage locations identified in the indictment, including a parking garage in Southeast Washington, D.C., where co-conspirators allegedly altered the vehicles to look less suspicious. The alleged tactics included swapping license plates and obscuring vehicle identification numbers to hide origins. Prosecutors also say the defendants disabled GPS and Bluetooth functions before shipping cars to reduce the chance of tracking and recovery.
All six individuals named in the charging document are accused of conspiracy to possess, sell, and transport stolen motor vehicles, a federal crime that carries significant penalties if proven at trial. The indictment lists multiple overt acts and transactions that prosecutors say show agreement and participation among the charged defendants. Those are the allegations the government must prove in court beyond a reasonable doubt.
The investigation involved the Metropolitan Police Department, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia’s Criminal Investigations Unit, and the FBI Washington Field Office, with valuable assistance provided by the Prince George’s County Police Department. That cooperation reflects how local and federal agencies pooled resources to track movement of vehicles and collect evidence across state lines. Multi-jurisdictional cases like this often hinge on sharing information quickly and coordinating warrants and interviews.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jacob Green and Michael Lee and Trial Attorney Haley Pennington are prosecuting the matter on behalf of the government. An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal law and is not evidence of guilt. Every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.
