Task force finds 19 stolen cars in Phoenix salvage yards, arrests 1 owner
Jan 19, 2023, 10:28 AM | Updated: 10:36 am
PHOENIX – An Arizona law enforcement task force recovered more than a dozen stolen vehicles during a sweep of suspected chop shops in Phoenix this week.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety said in a press release one suspect was arrested Tuesday and 19 stolen vehicles were found during multiagency inspections of salvage yards along a stretch of Broadway Road near 43rd Avenue.
Mohammad Lathgani, 36, of Phoenix was booked into Maricopa County Jail on one count of chop shop operations, four counts of theft of means of transportation and one count of possession of dangerous drugs, DPS said.
Lathgani’s 1st Choice Auto Parts No. 2 salvage yard was one of 12 businesses inspected by the agency’s vehicular theft task force; three were served with search warrants.
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DPS said the task force inspected about 2,150 vehicles and motors during the investigation.
The task force is made up of city, county, state and federal law enforcement agencies, “participating in a concerted effort to identify, apprehend, and prosecute individuals and criminal organizations that profit from the theft of motor vehicles and related crimes,” DPS said.
Police departments from Apache Junction, Chandler, Gilbert, Glendale, Goodyear, Peoria, Phoenix and Tempe assisted in the investigation, as well as the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office, Homeland Securities Investigations and the Arizona Department of Transportation, among others.
