KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas — Charges continue to mount for a 20-year-old woman at the center of a massive auto and title fraud investigation who was rearrested last week.
KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas — Charges continue to mount for a 20-year-old woman at the center of a massive auto and title fraud investigation who was rearrested last week.
20-year-old Mackenzie Nelson of Garland, Texas, was originally arrested after appearing for a police interview in a stolen Porsche Cayenne and charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
Nelson posted bond and was rearrested on Thursday, September 15, 2016, on nine felony warrants for false name or info/forgery of vehicle registration and is being held on bonds totaling $540,000.
Kaufman County Precinct 2 Constable Jason Johnson, who heads the Kaufman County Clean Air Task Force which is investigating the case, says he has seven additional signed warrants for Nelson in what could amount to over 500 fraudulent titles — each a felony.
Johnson and the task force, with assistance from other state and local authorities, have been investigating the auto and title fraud ring for approximately nine months. Investigators believe the ring is a multi-million dollar operation with dozens of accomplices which span over county and state lines and into Mexico.
A portion of the conspiracy includes the purchase of salvaged vehicles at auction which then received minimal cosmetic repairs, obtained falsified repair documents and inspections, and were cleared —through Nelson’s salvage dealer license registered at a Terrell address— to be sold.
Nelson and her co-conspirators are then accused of taking the titles to be registered in Kaufman County with incorrect sale prices which resulted in significantly lower taxes being paid to the county. Johnson estimates the county has already been defrauded of approximately $300,000.
Many of those vehicles are beyond repair and not safe to drive on the road, according to Johnson.
Nelson, who had no previous record and is the mother of an eight-month-old child, is only the tip of the iceberg, according to Johnson. Several other arrests and charges are expected in the case.
inForney.com will continue to follow developments in this case.
