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Nine members of the Hooligans Motorcycle gang have been chargedby a federal grand jury in California with participating in asophisticated scheme to steal scores of Jeep Wranglers andmotorcycles in San Diego, California, using handheld electronicdevices and stolen codes.

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Prosecutors alleged that the defendants were responsible for thetheft of more than 150 Jeep Wranglers worth approximately$4.5 million within San Diego County since 2014. The Hooligans usedhigh-tech methods to disable security systems and steal the Jeepsin just a few minutes, in the middle of the night, whileunsuspecting owners slept nearby, the government said. Afterstealing the Jeeps in San Diego County, the Hooligans transportedthem to Tijuana, Mexico, where they were sold or stripped forparts, according to the charges.

Used VIN to get key codes

"The joy ride is over for these Hooligans," said Deputy U.S.Attorney Mark Conover. "For many of us, our cars are our mostvaluable possessions. These arrests have put the brakes on anorganization that has victimized neighborhoods in a different way— by stealing something very personal. Something thatrequired a lot of sacrifice to purchase." 

The indictment alleged that the Hooligans did their homeworkbefore a theft by targeting a specific vehicle days before theactual theft would take place. As alleged, they obtained thevehicle identification number in advance and then managed to getsecret key codes, which allowed them to create a duplicate key forthat particular Jeep. Then, during the theft, the Hooligansdisabled the alarm system, programmed the duplicate key using ahandheld electronic device, and quietly drove away without notice,according to the government. 

No alarms triggered or forced entry

In the summer of 2014, San Diego County was hit with a rash ofJeep Wrangler thefts. Almost all the thefts occurred in the middleof the night or early morning, and almost all of the Wranglers wereequipped with alarms. Yet no alarms were ever triggered, and therewas never any broken glass or other signs of forced entry. Agentsfrom the Regional Auto Theft Task Force, known as RATT, at firstwere perplexed. 

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Then, on September 26, 2014, a Jeep owner parked her 2014 JeepWrangler Rubicon in the driveway of her home in Rancho Bernardo.She returned to the driveway early the next morning to find theJeep missing. The Jeep owner, however, recently had installed asurveillance camera on her house, and it happened to be trained onthe driveway. 

Handheld electronic device used to turn on engine

Prosecutors said that the surveillance footage revealed thatthree men stole her Jeep around 2:30 a.m. by disabling the alarmand then using a key and a handheld electronic device to turn onthe engine. 

Based on the surveillance footage, law enforcement agents sentChrysler a list of around 20 Jeeps that had recently been stolen inSan Diego County and asked whether anyone had requested duplicatekeys for the stolen Jeeps. 

According to the government, Chrysler responded that a duplicatekey had been requested for nearly every one of the 20 stolen Jeeps.Moreover, nearly every one of the keys had apparently beenrequested through the same dealership in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.The Jeeps' owners did not request duplicate keys and were unawarethat anyone had.

After additional investigation, agents began interrupting Jeepthefts and made several arrests. Through these arrests, prosecutorssaid, agents learned that the Tijuana-based Hooligan Motorcyclegang was behind the operation.

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Steven A. Meyerowitz, Esq., is the directorof FC&S Legal, the editor-in-chief of the InsuranceCoverage Law Report, and the founder and president of MeyerowitzCommunications Inc. Email him at [email protected].