VANCOUVER - A Vancouver resident has been sentenced to nearly 15 months in jail for selling 17 stolen cars in a complicated fencing scheme.
Sgt. Gord Elias with the Integrated Municipal Provincial Auto Crime Team (IMPACT) says 33-year-old Jonathan Allan Duck was sentenced Feb. 29 after pleading guilty to trafficking stolen property over $5,000.
Duck, who uses the name William John Pierce, was arrested Dec. 19, 2011 at a westside Vancouver apartment about six months after the IMPACT investigation began.
Police say Duck took vehicle identification numbers from wrecked cars and attached them to stolen-to-order vehicles, before listing the laundered car on Craigslist and selling it for cash to an unsuspecting buyer.
Investigators say numerous fake IDs and false documents were found in Duck's apartment, evidence of 17 fraudulent car sales, with each transaction worth between $3,000 and $12,000.
IMPACT urges Craigslist or other online car buyers to protect themselves by purchasing a vehicle history report from ICBC and paying by bank draft or certified cheque to create a paper trail.
