At first glance, a chop shop looks like the title of a gory horror film, or a terrifying building where victims are tortured. While chop shops are associated with crime, they don’t normally involve violence and weapons. Instead, chop shops are associated with car theft, and are places where criminals being their stolen vehicles to be raided for valuable parts. The car parts are then sold to restoration shops or on the internet to people who are searching for a particular piece in a restoration. A basic car can be worth untold amounts of money when it is taken apart and each nut, bolt, and piece is sold individually.
The National Insurance Crime Bureau says that more than one million cars are stolen from Americans each year. To fight this crime, Congress passed the Motor Vehicle Theft Law Enforcement Act of 1984. This act was then reinforced by another, the Anti-Car Theft Act of 1992 which addresses carjacking. Carjacking is defined as the illegal act of stealing a car that is occupied. Normally, the carjacker uses a weapon to threaten the driver and takes the vehicle to a chop shop to be sold. Carjacking is considered a federal offense, and is punishable by up to 15 years in prison per count. If the driver or a passenger in the car that was stolen is injured, then the driver can be sentenced up to 25 years. If someone dies in the exchange, then it brings on a life sentence, or possible execution.
It isn’t only the carjackers who can be punished when it comes to stealing cars for parts sales. Chop shops, which encourage the act of vehicle theft, are also illegal, and those that are associated with a chop shop can be imprisoned. Chop shops normally resell car parts on the open market, and operate as a central hub for the men and women who steal the vehicles. Often theft rings can be linked to a specific chop shop, and sometimes chop shop owners even pay their carjackers handsomely for their work. Workers at a chop shop carefully dismantle cars and sometimes operate under the cover of other business names and practices. For example, some shops disguise themselves as legitimate automobile recycling yards. These are like junk yards, and are places where people can sell junked cars so that the shop owner can salvage valuable parts. In the background, they will run their illegal theft business.
In order to run a chop shop, a ring leader needs to be tactful. Normally, he or she will need to find a secure location that is hidden from view, and learn how disguise stolen parts so that they look legitimate. The police in many states are trying to eliminate chop shops. Some locations, such as Alexandria, Virginia, even offer citizens a reward up to $25,000 for reporting car theft and tipping the police off to chop shop criminals. Intentionally dismantling a stolen vehicle and selling the parts for profit is considered a felony all across the United States, and the police will arrest anyone caught in connection with the crime.
In California, a chop shop worker can be given years in prison and fines. In addition, he or she may need to repay the men and women who were victims of the theft. Because the parts are distributed, it is often impossible for a person whose car was taken to a chop shop to get their vehicle back. Normally, chop shops obtain new VINs for their cars as soon as they arrive on the lot, so that they can’t be traced. This is especially important if the car is going to be sold as a whole, rather than in parts. If you have been caught operating a chop shop, then you may face up to 15 years in prison. Talk to a criminal defense attorney today to get more information about your crime and to develop a defense!
