American car thefts surge as teenage bandits, international crime rings ship stolen vehicles overseas
Carjackers targeting luxury vehicles throughout the United States are sending stolen cars to an unlikely destination in an attempt to maximize profits while minimizing the chances of getting caught.
The nation’s capital has served as an unlikely vessel for stolen luxury vehicles in recent years, with Washington seeing the highest vehicle theft rate throughout the country in 2023, according to data from the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
In 2023, carjacking rates within Washington were so high, the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) devised an undercover operation to take down an 18-year-old repeat offender who was allegedly working with other teenagers.
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Federal prosecutors allege Cedae Hardy orchestrated six separate carjackings alongside several co-conspirators throughout Maryland and Washington, with one attempt ending with a victim being shot multiple times.
Hardy allegedly unknowingly communicated with undercover MPD officers via text message to organize handovers in a downtown parking garage. In one instance, authorities intercepted messages between Hardy and his alleged co-conspirator showing the pair plotting to steal a Mercedes-Benz SL550. Just 22 minutes after the armed carjacking, Hardy arrived at the Florida Avenue Garage in downtown Washington. The vehicle was sold two days later to an undercover officer for $1,200, according to the Department of Justice.
Hardy is facing multiple felony charges and has also been tied to an additional conspiracy ring responsible for dozens of alleged carjackings, with one incident resulting in a victim being shot to death.
An attorney representing Hardy declined Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Hardy, along with several other teenage defendants, allegedly conspired to commit 33 carjackings between December 2022 and June 2023, according to the DOJ.
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Prosecutors allege Hardy, along with Keyonte Rice, 19, Landrell Jordan III, 19, and Malik Norman, 20, conspired to carjack victims and sell the stolen vehicles or use them for future crimes.
In one instance, Hardy and Rice allegedly shot a 39-year-old man to death in a failed carjacking attempt in a Maryland apartment complex parking lot. According to prosecutors, the pair were driving a vehicle from a separate armed carjacking and allegedly set the victim’s car on fire hours after the murder.
"[My client] has pleaded not guilty," attorney Robert Jenkins, who is representing Norman, told Fox News Digital. "I don't believe that the government will be able to establish that Mr. Norman participated directly in the use of any violence or the taking of any vehicles through any carjackings. I think the allegation against Mr. Norman is [he] may have at one point in time become in possession of certain vehicles that may have, at one point in time, been stolen through carjacking. But Mr. Norman himself never possessed any firearms, never confronted anyone for the purpose of seizing their vehicle and did not participate directly in any of those activities."
The attorneys for Rice and Jordan did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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"Soft-on-crime policies in major cities like Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles are the tail that wags the dogs when it comes to stolen high-end cars," attorney Andrew Stoltmann told Fox News Digital. "When the thieves know they either won’t get caught, or if they do get caught the penalty will be a de minimus slap on the wrist, it provides a green light for them to operate with impunity when it comes to stealing luxury cars."
The rise in carjackings marks a stunning statistical reversal amid the pandemic, with reports of offenses nearly quadrupling between 2020 and 2021.
Last year, New Jersey officials announced 29 individuals were charged after federal and local officials joined forces to execute a takedown of a "major international carjacking and stolen car trafficking ring," according to ICE.
The group allegedly operated within the Northeast, targeting luxury vehicles – specifically high-end SUVs – by holding victims at gunpoint or bumping the vehicles on a highway, forcing owners to exit their cars.
"The more we learn about the sophisticated pipeline between the supply and demand for stolen luxury cars, the better we can choke off that route and disrupt the flow," Col. Rick Fuentes, superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, said in a press release. "The scope of those arrested and charged shows just how organized this dangerous criminal enterprise had become."
The carjackers targeted vehicles at car washes, valet stations and airports, looking for victims who may have got out of their car while leaving the engine running. The thieves would then obtain the electronic key fob for the vehicle – critical to the resale value – and make their escape.
Once a vehicle was stolen, the carjackers would move it to a location to ensure no tracking devices were installed, primarily storing cars in parking garages, residential backyards or private storage areas.
Throughout the sting, titled Operation Jacked, roughly 140 of the 160 vehicles recovered were found at ports throughout New York or New Jersey.
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While some cars were sold within the U.S., most were shipped internationally to West Africa via shipping containers with misrepresented bills of lading.
"Think of it as criminal arbitrage," Stoltmann said. "They can get significantly bigger profit margins overseas than they can here in the United States, even given the costs of shipping these cars halfway across the world. Crucially, there are virtually no penalties whatsoever if they get caught in possession with a United States stolen car in Africa."
The Port Authority of New Jersey directed Fox News Digital to ICE for additional information.
Once the vehicles make their way overseas to Africa, they become virtually untraceable while entering a network of commerce where stolen cars are in high demand.
In response to the influx of stolen vehicles traveling across borders, Interpol has ramped up efforts to combat the sale of cars traveling from America and Europe by increasing the efficacy of entry checks, according to the agency.
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However, officials’ ability to track the number of cars flowing into the country remains unknown, with stories of local gangs working alongside law enforcement within Africa to transport the stolen vehicles into countries there for profit, according to a 2022 report published by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.
Vehicles are registered with a VIN number upon arriving in West Africa, but vehicle laundering hubs throughout the region offer scammers the opportunity to alter the identification number or purchase counterfeit registration paperwork. One known hub in Birnin Konni in Niger sells fake license plates for just $16, with fake vehicle titles costing as little as $2.50, according to the report.
"Stolen vehicles are a business that involves numerous people who seem far from suspicious, such as traders, garage owners and mechanics, and even political leaders, in the sense that they may benefit from the sales," a former Niger car thief said in the report.
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Back home in the U.S., unlikely criminals are carrying out these transnational crimes.
In Washington, 49% of reported carjackings this year have been committed by juveniles, with 78% of offenders having home addresses within the local area, according to data from MPD.
"Theft rings typically recruit younger people because they know if they do get caught, they will likely be sentenced as a minor, which has much less severe consequences for those who get caught," Stoltmann told Fox News Digital.
The majority of this year's arrests by the MPD have consisted of teenagers, with the youngest offenders just 12 years old.
"These are organized rings, and they recruit people, and it’s much easier to recruit younger people when they know the penalties are so minor for getting caught," Stoltmann said.
As carjacking incidents throughout the country continue to climb – with 1,020,729 reported incidents in 2023 – experts are discovering new methods being used by thieves.
RFID cloning disks or the Flipper Zero Device have the ability to replicate radio signals emitted by key fobs, with criminals using tracking devices to follow vehicles they are interested in stealing, according to the NICB.
"Vehicle crimes have surged across the nation since the start of the pandemic, especially in dense urban areas," an NICB spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "Even though this past year we’ve seen a 17% decrease in vehicle thefts, we’re still not yet at pre-pandemic figures, and some areas hit harder than others are still experiencing significant highs in all types of auto thefts."
The NICB suggests drivers protect themselves and their cars by parking in well-lit areas, not leaving a running vehicle unattended, and calling law enforcement as soon as possible if their vehicle is stolen.