LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – A wrecking yard in North Las Vegas received a visit from authorities this month.
Chief Decker with the DMV Compliance Division tells FOX5 the wrecking yard with operating without a license.
“People like these that don’t have the proper paperwork exist in the black market,” Decker said.
It’s operations like this that Decker and his team are constantly trying to stay ahead of. However, for this bust, this ring leader is no stranger to them.
“When we hit them last year, they moved the crusher we were notified by the licensed wrecking yards that there was an illegal operation going on,” Decker said.
Decker tells FOX5 the unlicensed wrecking yard, also has an unlicensed tow company that takes cars without title paperwork, crushes them, and sells the parts out of state.
Victoria Saha: If I’m parking my car on the street and I wake up the next morning it is gone, could it be because an illegal towing company picked it up?
Decker: It could be, we don’t know if they are doing that, it’s relatively high profile. I think because they are unlicensed, they are trying to maintain a low profile, we don’t know if they are not doing that though. That has happened in the past but vehicles that people come in possession of where they don’t have the paperwork potentially are stolen or have title problems, they are relatively worthless because you can’t drive them on the street without a registration.
For this bust, multiple agencies were involved such as Code Enforcement, U.S. Marshals, National Insurance Crime Bureau.
As FOX5 kept our distance, the teams went into the big lot that was surrounded by white semi-trucks. We later learned that was to hide the illegal towing and car crusher according to Decker.
Two men came out with their hands up, but their role in the operation is still unknown.
FOX5 also discovered the operation was happening just several yards from a school.
“Right on the other side of the fence with all the oil and gas and grease on the ground is a school playground,” Decker said.
As Decker’s body cam footage showed, there was an 80,000-pound car crusher on the property. Of the cars that were found, most were stripped of their parts. Decker said they are still waiting to determine which ones were stolen.
He tells me, they are looking for the owner of the operation, but once they catch the person they will face a charge of misdemeanor citation, for unlicensed wrecker activity.
The property owner also faces city code violations.
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