Feds: Thieves drove stolen cars to Mexico

Kristina Davis Contact Reporter

A grand jury has indicted three men who authorities say operated a U.S.-to-Mexico stolen car ring in San Diego.
At least 81 vehicles were swiped by the trio and driven across the border, according to the indictment filed Oct. 19 in San Diego federal court.

The investigation began in June, as a Border Patrol agent was compiling a list of stolen vehicles. When he conducted border crossing queries on the stolen vehicles, he identified Jose Ernesto Camarillo, David Urbina and others as suspects tied to the cross-border trafficking of at least 81 vehicles, according to a cellphone search warrant affidavit filed Monday in the case.

Photographs taken at the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa ports of entry indicated Camarillo drove about 20 vehicles into Mexico and Urbina drove about 14 since Jan. 1, the affidavit states.

Investigators from the Border Patrol and Regional Auto Theft Task Force used GPS tracking devices and surveillance to continue the investigation. On Sept. 24, the two men and co-defendant Armando Angulo crossed the border from Mexico, stole a Honda Civic on Border Village Road, and then stole a Nissan pickup on 38th Street in San Diego, according to court records.

As the men drove around, they navigated a grid pattern — a technique law enforcement says is often used to prevent police surveillance.

The men met up at a restaurant, where investigators arrested them. Inside Camarillo’s backpack was a car stereo that had come from the Civic, authorities said. Burglary tools and shaved keys were also discovered, according to the affidavit.

The three have pleaded not guilty.

Auto thefts have jumped 16 percent in San Diego County from mid-year 2015 to mid-year 2016, according to the San Diego Association of Governments, which tracks crime trends.

The increase was from 4,778 vehicles stolen to 5,551. That is still a low number compared to the number of vehicles stolen in 2006: 11,901.

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