KC Man Sentenced for Stolen Vehicle Conspiracy

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Missouri
6 August 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City, Missouri, man was sentenced in federal court today for his role in a conspiracy to steal high-end sport utility vehicles and pick-ups from out-of-state dealerships and transport them to Kansas City for sale on the black market.

Timothy Hood, 38, was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Beth Phillips to three years and 10 months in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Hood to pay $212,998 in restitution.

On March 22, 2019, Hood pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to transport stolen vehicles across state lines and one count of aiding and abetting the transportation of stolen vehicles across state lines. Hood admitted that he participated in a conspiracy from Dec. 1, 2015, to Feb. 2, 2016, to steal at least 10 high-end sport utility vehicles and pick-up trucks from three out-of-state auto dealerships and deliver them to Kansas City.

Hood and co-conspirators organized small groups to steal 10 vehicles, worth approximately $710,933, from three dealerships in Nebraska and Iowa. Co-conspirator Joshua Walker, 43, of Kansas City, Missouri, affixed fraudulent vehicle identification numbers (VINs) onto the dashboard of the stolen vehicles. Many of the fraudulent VINs used during the conspiracy were true VINs from other vehicles owned by car dealerships and were utilized so that the stolen vehicles would be difficult to trace and could be sold on the black market.

All of the stolen vehicles have been recovered by law enforcement officers and sold as salvage. Two of the stolen vehicles were recovered at the residence of Hood’s girlfriend. On Sept. 22, 2016, Hood was pulled over for a traffic infraction while he was driving one of the stolen vehicles with a fraudulent VIN. Investigators searched Hood’s laptop, which was in the vehicle. The computer contained scanned images of templates for temporary Kansas license plates, insurance cards, notary stamps, bills of sale, release of liens, and bar code labels of VINs. The search of the computer also revealed searches of legitimate VINs that were fraudulently used or affixed to other stolen vehicles in this case.

Walker pleaded guilty in a separate, but related, case to his role in the conspiracy and to being a felon in possession of a firearm. A sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Venneman. It was investigated by the FBI and the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department.