A federal grand jury has indicted an Atlanta attorney and five other people accused of stealing expensive cars, altering their vehicle identification numbers and fraudulently obtaining new titles for their cars, the Department of Justice said Friday.
Janell Payne, 39, of Atlanta, was charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud and altering a VIN in connection with the high-end car theft ring, the agency said in a statement. She is not currently licensed, according to State Bar of Georgia records.
“When a civil servant is associated with criminal activity,” Special Agent in Charge Floyd Martinez said in the statement, “it undermines the public’s trust in government.”
According to prosecutors, Payne and the others allegedly worked together to steal high-end vehicles, mainly from car dealerships in Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina.
After stealing the cars, they researched vehicles that were similar to the ones they had stolen, and when a similar car was found, they used that vehicle’s VIN to create a new VIN for the stolen car. They then affixed the new VIN to the dashboard to thwart detection that the vehicle was actually stolen.
“At that point, defendants submitted fraudulent powers of attorney to state motor vehicle departments to obtain copies of the titles of the similar cars,” U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak said. “With the fake title in hand, the defendants allegedly sold the stolen car with its new VIN.”
The crew allegedly stole eight Bentleys, three Audis, two Mercedes-Benz, two GMC Yukons, two Chevrolet Corvettes and other expensive cars.
Payne and Everett Tripodis were arraigned Tuesday, officials said. On Friday, a U.S. magistrate judge ordered Tripodis, 42, of Atlanta, detained pending his trial, according to the release. Authorities said he has two previous federal convictions for tampering with and altering VINs.
Quentin Berry, 45, Kakawana Tate, 42, Antonio Tyler, 42, and Mark Wilson, 31, were also named in the indictment.
Berry and Tate are from Atlanta. Tyler is from Augusta. And Wilson is from Toledo, Ohio.
“These defendants were brazen in stealing expensive vehicles from car dealerships,” Pak said.
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