A single missing car after a freeway crash turned into six felony counts once investigators started pulling the thread. Illinois State Police say a tow truck driver used his access to crash-damaged vehicles to sell them off to a scrap yard — including several that had already been reported stolen.
A Crash Victim’s Car Vanished From the Interstate
The case began February 12, when a driver involved in a crash along the Bishop Ford Freeway near Chicago’s Beaubien Woods area called a private towing company to retrieve the vehicle, then left it on the interstate to wait. By the time the tow company arrived, the car was already gone. Illinois State Police opened an investigation and began tracing the vehicle’s movements from the crash scene, eventually determining that Saeed Mustafa, 36, had allegedly taken possession of the car and transported it away himself.
Sold for Scrap With Paperwork Police Say Was Fake
Investigators say Mustafa delivered the vehicle to a local junk car company and had it sold for scrap metal, presenting paperwork that allegedly claimed he had legal authority to dispose of it — documentation authorities say was false and didn’t reflect actual ownership or permission. That single transaction became the thread that unraveled a much larger pattern once troopers started reviewing the scrap company’s other records.
How One Case Became Six Felony Counts
Digging through those records, investigators say they found Mustafa had allegedly delivered multiple vehicles to the same scrap business in exchange for payment, and that some of those vehicles had already been reported stolen in both Chicago and neighboring Indiana. That discovery shifted the case from a single missing vehicle to a suspected pattern of vehicles being scrapped under false ownership claims — which is significant, because scrap operations dismantle cars for parts and metal, making stolen vehicles far harder to recover once they enter that pipeline.
The Arrest and the Charges
Mustafa was located and arrested during a traffic stop along Interstate 94 without incident, and was formally charged with six counts of conspiracy to receive, possess, or sell a stolen motor vehicle — Class 2 felonies under Illinois law. He remains in custody as the case moves through the court system; the charges reflect allegations at this stage, and Mustafa is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. Authorities haven’t disclosed how much money the alleged scheme generated, and it remains unclear whether additional suspects or businesses could face charges as the investigation continues.
The Gap This Case Exposes
The scheme, as alleged, exploited a fairly ordinary moment: a damaged vehicle left temporarily at a roadside location while waiting for an authorized tow. That window — between a crash and a legitimate tow arriving — is exactly what investigators say created the opportunity here, a detail that may prompt closer scrutiny of who has access to vehicles left waiting on the shoulder after a crash.