DA: Tow Trucker Stole Vehicles, Sold For Scrap
Posted on Friday, 19 of September , 2008 at 8:01 pm
QUEENS—A tow truck operator has been charged with stealing 22 automobiles off the streets of Queens over a five-month period this year and selling them to a Brooklyn scrap dealer who then crushed the vehicles.
Robert Lorenz, 48, of 2 Pettit Drive, Dix Hills, Long Island, is charged with one count of third-degree grand larceny, 22 counts of fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, 22 counts of first -degree falsifying business records and 22 counts of third-degree unauthorized use of a vehicle. If convicted, the defendant faces up to seven years in prison.
“With the price of metal on the rise, the defendant is accused of exploiting a loophole in the Department of Motor Vehicles regulations which allowed him to sell stolen cars to a scrap dealer without possessing the keys or titles to the vehicles – all of which were in drivable condition and had been reported missing by their legitimate owners”, Queens district attorney Richard Brown said. “In some cases, license plates were still affixed to the vehicles. For many of the car theft victims, the loss is doubly troubling in that they have both lost their primary source of transportation and will not be reimbursed for their loss due to the fact that they did not carry theft insurance because of the age of their vehicles.”
Under New York State Department of Motor Vehicles regulations, a vehicle owner may use DMV form MV-35 to transfer a vehicle – worth $1,250 or less and at least eight model years old – to a registered vehicle dismantler, an itinerant vehicle collector or a certified scrap processor without having titled the vehicle in their own name.
According to the charges, Lorenz drove a tow truck bearing the words “Kenny’s” or “Cobra Scrap” between March 22 and July 10 and hooked up 22 vehicles that had been legally parked on Queens streets and towed them to Allocco Metal Recycling, located at 540 Kingsland Avenue in Brooklyn. It is alleged that when Lorenz arrived at the scrap yard with a vehicle, he would provide the owner with a MV-35 form which stated that he was the owner of the vehicle, and that the vehicle was then weighed and the defendant was paid between $300 and $500 – depending on the weight of the vehicle.
Finally, It is alleged that the vehicle was crushed. The stolen vehicles allegedly ranged in model years from 1986 to 2001, with most being early 1990s models. 9-19-08
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