Street Takeover Influencer Hit With 16 Criminal Charges

A street takeover influencer who’s accused of using his popular social media accounts to promote events is facing serious charges. It’s not often we see this kind of action taken by authorities in California, so either this is an anomaly or things are starting to change.

Watch a street takeover Camaro crash.

Erick Romero Quintana, who’s just 22, was hit with 16 counts of conspiracy by Los Angeles County prosecutors. While he appeared in court recently to plead not guilty, the guy is facing at least ten years in prison and possibly many more.

Lest anyone think Quintana was just having some fun, as the Los Angeles Times points out, at one of the events the guy promoted, a 24-year-old woman died after getting hit by a street takeover car.

On top of that, takeover events often feature violence, from fights to shootings. And they often involve drug deals, human trafficking, car theft, vandalism, and other illegal activities, not to mention destruction of city infrastructure.

Quintana’s criminal prosecution is focusing on his Instagram account “privatemeetz” which allegedly told over 60,000 followers about 16 different takeover events held in Los Angeles County from December 2022 to November 2023.

While we can’t weigh in on Quintana’s guilt or innocence – that’s the job of the court system – we can say we have no love lost for the street takeover movement. Not only is it dangerous and a public nuisance, it makes the car hobby look bad to the general public.

So many times, the takeover crowd gets called car enthusiasts or gearheads when they are, in fact, not those things. What they do destroys cars, is wildly reckless, and makes the real enthusiasts look like a bunch of outlaws.

In reality, many car clubs regularly perform acts of charity, raising money for children’s hospitals and working to build up their local communities. The street takeover crowd is all about cheap, lawless fun on someone else’s dime. We don’t support it in the least.

Image via KeyNewsNetwork/YouTube