2024 Winners

International and Region 2

Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles

Robert Williams, Senior Special Agent

On March 14, 2023, Richmond City Police Detective Sergeant Castrinos reached out to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicle’s Law Enforcement Division for assistance with a titling fraud investigation involving a towing company. A former employee of the company came forward and stated that the company, No Limit Towing, had been forging DMV paperwork and submitting it to illegally transfer ownership of vehicles. The Detective Sergeant requested filings from the tow company from 2019 forward to try to corroborate allegations and identify additional victims. Senior Special Agent (SSA) Robert Williams was assigned to assist Richmond City Police to move the investigation forward. SSA Williams took the initiative to identify 49 victims and pull records for an additional 72 vehicles where ownership was illegally obtained. In addition to pulling lien and ownership documents, SSA Williams pulled NMVTIS records and Carfax histories to verify ownership and document timelines for the vehicles. The estimated value of the additional 72 vehicles is $424,345. In addition to providing information, Agent Williams’ insight into the details of titling and DMV processing was integral to the work of other investigators and prosecutors. In August of 2023, 17 indictments were filed against the owner of No Limit Towing for grand larceny of a motor vehicle. After the indictments, SSA Williams continued to look into towing related fraud. His investigation, in conjunction with a customer who ran into issues titling a vehicle, uncovered another towing company committing similar infractions. SSA Williams obtained nine felony and one misdemeanor warrants for the owner of On Demand Towing, for perjury, title, and registration fraud; forging; and uttering official documents. The investigation into On Demand Towing is ongoing.

Region 1

Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles

David Erdman, Motor Vehicle Emissions Contract Compliance Officer

Dave Erdman is a Contract Compliance Officer with the CT Department of Motor Vehicles, where he has been for over 20 years. Anomalous OBDII readings that occur during emissions testing are automatically flagged by the emissions computer system. Erdman reviews each and every anomaly. Dave noticed that a vehicle that had anomalous readings also had a license plate frame advertising a company that was possibly involved in vehicle "tuning". He found the company's website online, which lists all repair dealers that sell and install the tuning (tampering) products in each state. He identified 3 dealers in CT advertised as "installers" of tampering kits and reported his findings to the EPA. In a year-long period, Erdman reviewed 3,422 trigger audits, identified and reported 68 stolen vehicles to the CT DMV's Law Enforcement Division, reported 3 companies selling emissions tampering kits in the US to the EPA, and reported 7 companies performing tampering repairs to the EPA. His diligence and investigatory skills have successfully helped with the enforcement of fraud and vehicle tampering as well as identifying stolen vehicles.

Region 3

Iowa Department of Transportation, Motor Vehicle Division

Brenda Bohlke, Motor Vehicle Investigator, Bureau of Investigation & Identity Protection

In April of 2023 Investigator Brenda Bohlke initiated an investigation into a case involving potential VIN issues on a 2022 GMC truck. The truck titled in Iowa had also been titled in Texas utilizing the same VIN. This case was opened based on a complaint from a customer in Iowa that purchased the vehicle and was later attempting to trade the vehicle into an Iowa dealership when CARFAX indicated an issue. Around this same time, the local county treasurer notified Bohlke of a similar case where a Texas vehicle (2020 GMC Sierra AT4) sitting at a dealership in Texas had been titled in Iowa utilizing the same VIN, thus preventing the Texas vehicle from getting titled in Texas. Investigator Bohlke determined both vehicles involved in this case were cloned, actively stolen vehicles. She recovered both vehicles and was able to return them to the theft victims. Further scrutiny of the Texas titles presented in Iowa revealed that they were counterfeit. Investigator Bohlke, along with another investigator, were able to confirm that both titles were created from the same template. She ran a search by the previous owner’s name displayed on both Texas titles through Iowa’s ARTS database. She was able to identify several other high-end trucks that were titled in Iowa, previously titled in Texas, using the same previous owner’s name, and the same counterfeit template. Investigator Bohlke tasked her coworkers with inspecting these vehicles to later confirm that these were also cloned stolen vehicles. Understanding the magnitude of this situation, Investigator Bohlke created a PowerPoint training and delivered it to all 99 County Treasurer Offices in Iowa as well as the whole Investigative unit with the Bureau of Investigation and Identity Protection. The mission was to provide the pertinent information and what to look for to identify the counterfeit titles to all investigators and the front-line staff to hopefully catch the fraud prior to an Iowa title being issued and perpetuating further fraud. Ultimately this training was a success. In as little as a week after taking the training, a county treasurer staff member was able to identify one of the templated counterfeit titles presented and was able to stop the furtherance of fraud at their counter.

Region 4

California Department of Motor Vehicles

Amy Burks, Staff Services Manager I, Data Forensics Team

As the California DMV Investigations Division looks for ways to use data in its modernization journey, Data Forensics Team leader Amy Burks shines in her efforts to make the department’s efforts in combatting fraud successful. One example is her ability to be proactive in recognizing when dealers fail to adhere to the laws of perfecting titles to consumers in accordance with California law. The California DMV Investigations Division receives complaints from consumers who purchased vehicles from California automobile dealers that they have not received their title or registration document. In some cases, it had been more than six months since the consumer purchase of the vehicle. By law, dealers have 50 days after the date of sale to transfer the ownership to the consumer. Historically, the California DMV Investigations Division waited for a consumer complaint to alert the team about a dealership’s failure to perfect a title. Amy led the team that found ways to utilize data to identify fraud or misconduct before a consumer could complain. While analyzing data, Amy identified trends that were indicative of other types of fraud that included temporary license plates, grand theft, and theft. Amy and her team worked closely with developers to create a dashboard for California DMV investigators as reference and to produce their own failure to transfer data, so they no longer must rely on data to be compiled and distributed by the Data Team. Since the roll out of the Failure to Transfer model, 4,756 cases have been generated, which aided in the transfer of 87,285 vehicles for California consumers.