[Scorer75]

From the NY Daily News today:

Creeps hit heap of Jeeps

Allegedly get 100G stripping Queens vehicles,
selling online

BY ROBERT F. MOORE
DAILY NEWS POLICE BUREAU

Jeep Wranglers were targeted in a bizarre series of Queens thefts.
A trio of car thieves ripped doors off scores of Jeep Wranglers parked on streets in Queens, then hawked the parts on eBay - pocketing as much as $100,000, police sources said yesterday.

"I went to move my car and there were no doors on it," one of the victims told cops while reporting the bizarre theft. "It was the strangest thing."

Two of the alleged thieves, Jose Urbina, 41, and Ivan Mendoza, 46, both ex-cons who live in Manhattan, were arrested early yesterday. Cops were hunting for a third suspect, police sources said.

Investigators cracked the lucrative scam after one of the victims spotted doors that had been stolen off her 2006 Jeep Wrangler on eBay. The victim - described by one source as a police buff and by another as a private investigator - called the NYPD auto crimes unit.

Armed with the tip, investigators began monitoring eBay, contacted those selling Jeep doors on the popular online auction site and made three undercover buys between July 10 and July 28, the sources said.

Undercover cops met separately with Urbina and Mendoza at least twice near Francis Lewis Blvd. and paid about $800 for each pair of black-market doors, the sources said. In each case, the vehicle identification numbers had been removed, a law enforcement source said.

Detectives connected the ex-cons to the sales of about $30,000 worth of stolen doors, but sources said the final take would end up being closer to $100,000. It can cost up to $5,000 to get the doors replaced by a reputable mechanic.

Most of the vehicles targeted were 2004 or 2005 Wranglers parked in the 104th Precinct, which covers Ridgewood and Glendale, the sources said.

But NYPD detectives are sharing information with Nassau County police to see if the crime spree spread into Long Island, a source said.

Urbina was arraigned last night on charges related to the illegal sale of vehicle parts, possession of stolen property and the removal of vehicle identification numbers. He was ordered held on $1,500 bail. Mendoza was waiting to be arraigned on the same charges, authorities said.

Urbina's lawyer, Pamela Jordan, said her client did not know the doors were stolen. A spokeswoman for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said the suspects each face up to four years in prison, if convicted. Urbina has prior convictions for criminal possession of stolen property and weapons possession. Mendoza has three grand larceny arrests on his record.

As cops searched for the third suspect, who sources said has ties to Florida, several sellers on eBay were still offering Wrangler doors for about $1,300 a pair.

Cops investigated a similar series of car door thefts in Flushing last December, but investigators have not connected those crimes to Urbina and Mendoza, the sources said.

With Oren Yaniv


Originally published on October 27, 2006

Link: http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/465773p-391841c.html

[Scorer75]

Oh yea' sorry if this is in the wrong place.

[FLATFENDER54]

I got 3 and a half sets of full doors any body wanna buy a set. Figure on shipping from New York (lol)

[LandRover]

Originally Posted by Scorer75

. It can cost up to $5,000 to get the doors replaced by a reputable mechanic.

Craziest thing in the whole article!!

5 Grand? I'm in the wrong line of work. If anyone needs my services, I'll put your doors on for under 3000 bucks.

[PM Thor]

"It can cost up to $5,000 to get the doors replaced by a reputable mechanic."

What? I say WHAT? 5k for doors? Are these special gold plated doors? A reputable mechanic my butt...

[MontyTJ02]

the $5000 is prolly the cost of the doors if the mechanic buys em and marks em up and charges for installation. Either way it still sux. Keep an eye on yer doors fellas and ladies

[GrimJeeper91]

Funny, a friend here in Los Angeles just go his doors stolen. I wonder if Jose and Julio are out on bail?

[jtpaintball70]

I think I might look into those locks for the doors... I don't even have nuts on mine after this summer... not sure where the nuts went either

[Pottymouth]

May those two burn in hell. But, before they burn in hell, may they get their face kicked in, cancer in their a$$, penial chopped off, and knees smashed with a sledgehammer.

[grogie]

Ex-cons... go figure. Gas them.

[newcaddy4j]

Thats crazy... my roomate told me her friend had their doors stole in Brooklyn. I'll have to tell her.

Don't know why you'd waste the time stealing doors when Bentleys are all over the place.

[Erik T.]

It can cost up to $5,000 to get the doors replaced by a reputable mechanic.

What horse****.

Probably just an attempt to increase charges against the guys by increasing the 'total' amount of restitution they'd have to pay.

I'd let the ****ers take my doors if I got 5 grand back.

[LandRover]

Originally Posted by Erik T.

I'd let the ****ers take my doors if I got 5 grand back.

Good call! Anyone know how to get ahold of those guys? I'll even pay shipping.