By Steven Symes 
Three California men were caught this week trying to use a stolen ID to purchase a Corvette from a dealership. From what the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office says, it sounds like this might not have been the first time the trio have done such a thing, just it might have been the first time they’ve been caught.
Ohio State Highway Patrol shows off its new Dodge Hellcat.
We don’t know what year or model of Corvette the men were trying to buy, just that the sales price was $68,000. The dealer, located in Thousand Oaks, was initially dealing with one of the men, Raymondo Cox, online.
That’s common for a lot of vehicle purchases these days. The guy reportedly provided a “fraudulent identification card that represented another real person,” plus a stolen social security number to get the transaction rolling.
Obviously, someone at the dealership realized Cox was trying to defraud them. That’s when the dealer reached out to the sheriff’s office and a trap was set.
The dealership acted like everything was fine with the Corvette purchase and scheduled a time for Cox to come in, sign paperwork, and take delivery of the American sports car.
He showed up with two buddies, Ricky Perez and Vincent Venerable, and signed paperwork using the identity of the person on the fraudulent card, trying to use the victim’s credit to get the vehicle.
That was enough evidence for deputies to swoop in and arrest him. His two friends were considered suspects, so they were investigated and to the surprise of nobody, both of them had fake IDs on them. They’re now facing charges for possessing the fake IDs and conspiring with Cox to fraudulently buy the Corvette.
We know this sort of thing happens far too often. Sometimes dealers don’t catch the deception until the vehicle has been handed over, meaning they have to eat the entire loss, which really hurts.
That’s why knowing these guys got busted is sweet justice, because they might have gotten away with this scheme before.
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Shawn Henry