Police in Canton, Michigan, arrested six males and one girl, all 21 years outdated or youthful, on costs associated to an enormous automotive theft crime ring that snagged $1.7 million value of Ford Bronco Raptors.

Sixteen $90,000-plus Bronco Raptors had been lifted from holding tons within the Detroit metro area. Holding tons are discovered throughout southeast Michigan as a spot for completed merchandise to await transit to dealerships throughout the nation.

The investigation took Canton police 10 months and turned from a easy automotive theft ring into severe prison enterprise prices, WXYZ experiences:

“Over time, we’ve discovered that that is truly like a racketeering case,” mentioned Canton Police Chief Chad Baugh. “They had been taking the automobiles and re-tagging them. What which means to us is that they had been assigning one other VIN quantity to it illegally and making an attempt to get these automobiles registered by an harmless purchaser and by that point, that individual is already gone with the cash and so they’re left with a car they’ll’t drive or personal.”

Baugh says the thieves focused a holding lot on Belleville Rd. and one other on Hannan Rd. amongst others. Police say they had been capable of get well 10 of the stolen automobiles in states so far as Texas, Arizona, and Alaska.

Additionally they recovered just a few Mustangs, an AR pistol, and round $28,000 in money believed to be made within the sale of the stolen automobiles.

“It makes it very regarding for us as a result of we now have to search out methods to cease it on the entrance finish so we don’t topic our residents to pursuits,” mentioned Baugh.

Six of the seven suspects face one depend of conducting a prison enterprise, which carries a possible 20-year sentence. All of them caught a number of prices of receiving and concealing stolen property, which may fetch 10 years. The accused are anticipated again in courtroom on Friday.

Ford has a little bit of an issue holding on to its automobiles. Earlier this month, Ford misplaced 15 F-150s from holding tons within the model’s hometown of Dearborn, Michigan — ten of them picked up the identical day. A million {dollars} value of Ford Raptors had been stolen straight from the plant final 12 months, with just a few Mustangs getting caught up within the scheme as nicely. And Ford shouldn’t be alone. Fiat Chrysler lost eight vehicles from its meeting plant in 2018 and two Wagoneers had been snatched up simply final 12 months.