Nine people have been sentenced for concealing, selling, and disposing of stolen vehicles that had been transferred across many states.
Ian Torres, 26, of Philadelphia, and Jose Otero Nieves, 43, of Maryland, were sentenced to 54 and 96 months in prison, respectively, for interstate transportation of stolen cars, according to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Torres, Otero, and eight other accused conspired, according to U.S. Attorney Brian D. Miller, to transport stolen vehicles interstate as well as receive, retain, conceal, store, sell, and dispose of them.
Torres, Otero, and their accomplices drove the stolen automobiles, usually high-end “muscle” cars, across state borders to “car meetups” and “street takeovers,” where they would take over a parking lot, intersection, road, or stretch of a highway.
The automobiles were then displayed at the meetups and on social media before being driven recklessly and dangerously, such as drifting and “burning out” the vehicles, according to the announcement.
The offenders stole several vehicles across multiple states. For example, in October 2023, Torres, Otero, and the others went to a Selinsgrove vehicle dealership to take two 2017 Cadillac CTS-Vs, a 2016 Cadillac CTS-V, two 2019 Cadillac CTS-Vs, a 2018 Chevrolet Camaro, a 2019 Chevrolet Camaro, and a 2019 Chevrolet Corvette.
The remaining seven suspects have been condemned to the following:
- Jose Otero Nieves, of Maryland —96 months’
- Rafael Otero Nieves, of Maryland —84 months’
- Nigel Criss, of Philadelphia —54 months’
- Ian Quintana Torres, of Philadelphia —54 months’
- Jesus Terrero, of Maryland —36 months’
- Tyler Hoagland, of Maryland —18 months’
- Shamar Morris, of Philadelphia —12 months’
- Raymond Steward, of New Jersey — 6 months’
- Robert Jones, of Maryland — 6 months’
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