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Inside an auto theft sting
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The undercover cops from the Houston police department are now immersed in gang life.
The stolen car sting is now netting more dangerous contraband: guns and drugs. And to get a line into those worlds—they need to penetrate more deeply.
Tio, undercover police officer: They sleep all day. And then they smoke pot and do cocaine and do whatever they do all night long...
Victoria Corderi, Dateline correspondent: And you have to be on their timetable.
Tio: Yes.
Reuben: Yes. Yeah, it’s long hours.
Corderi: And not knowing what the outcome is going to be.
Tio: Correct. Right
They decide to spend time with the suspects on their turf—at their favorite hangout.
That’s when the action moved to the bar Hottyz—pounding music videos, writhing women. And for the undercover cops opportunity to make more deals and get more intel on the suspects and other prospects.
Tio: We get to meet some guys that haven’t been to the warehouse who are sometimes there. They want to talk about business.
The undercover cops are playing host, buying bucket after bucket of beer. That’s when the talk turns to drugs. One suspect says he can supply ecstasy.
Undercover police (hidden camera footage): I might want some more.
Another suspect sells the cops cocaine and claims he has a lot more where that came from.
Undercover police: Cocaine. Each one of these is packages of cocaine.
They take the conversation outside. The undercover cop says he’s not sure the cocaine deal is worth it—and the suspect reassures him.
P: Oh man, you ain’t gotta worry about that S--- The dude I get it from is straight Columbian guy.
And, he says, the drug dealer also sells guns.
P: He’s the one who has the connections on the guns, like the AK he had that he was going to get like a Russian machine gun.
As if stolen cars, guns and drug deals weren’t enough the cops soon find out they may have something else to handle: they themselves may have become targets of a robbery at the warehouse. It’s not that the undercover cops have been discovered, it’s because one of the suspects thinks the fencing operation has a lot of cash and is worth hitting.
Tio: They were all gonna pull pistols and rob us all because they were under the impression that we had a lot of money.
At the next warehouse meeting the cops are concerned this may be the day they get robbed.
When the thieves arrive, the suspects back their cars into the garage, something they’ve never done before—it’s as though they’re planning a quick getaway.
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Later, the cops learn the robbery plans have been called off. Other suspects told them one admitted carjacker came up with the idea, but, ironically, another thief—named Grenias—stopped him.
Tio: Grenias told me that he talked him out of it and told him, “Hey, you’re crazy. Why do you wanna do that? This guy is here. We can use him. We can bring whatever we need to sell to him, he’s always going to buy it from us.
Corderi: Basically, Grenias saved your operation?
Tio: Yes, he did.
And why shouldn’t he? The thief, Grenias, is making good money—constantly calling the cops with stolen cars for sale.
In fact, he’s relentless. At one point police see him allegedly supervising the sale of three stolen cars in a parking lot with his newborn and toddler in tow.
In the meantime, police are collecting information about all of the suspects—anything that will help to identify them, like tattoos.
Undercover police: What’s the “tatt” on you?
P: Africa.
Undercover police: Oh that’s pretty cool.
P: Yeah. Just decided to get something that means something.
Undercover police: Yeah pretty cool.
Outside, surveillance teams track licenses and addresses, tailing the suspects whenever they can. They trade off cars every so often to avoid detection.
During the day, police continue surveillance on the suspects’ homes. One belongs to Grenias, the one who keeps popping up at the warehouse. Police think his next deal is parked in the driveway.
The next day, they continue to track the truck.
Grenias, the thief, drives it to a nearby parking lot.
Police wait until he gets out of the truck to make a phone call.
The officer reaches the truck, checks its identification numbers, and walks away before the suspect returns.
Later that night, Grenias arrives at the warehouse with the stolen truck.
He brags he does more than just steal cars. He’s a tough guy too—
"Grenias": I shot a bunch of people.
That’s his world: crime, guns and gangs. In fact, most of the suspects have lengthy records. But there are some surprises.
Undercover police: Did you get that thing, it’s too big of a truck for you?
Jacqui: No, I love trucks.
16 year-old Jacqui says she just graduated from high school and plans to go to college. Police say she was sent in by one of the thieves to fence a stolen truck.
Undercover police: What are you supposed to get for it? What do you think it’s worth?
Jacqui: $2,000.
Undercover police: We’ll give you $800 for it.
Jacqui: Give me a thousand.
Undercover police: It’s a Dodge. We’ve got too many Dodges.
Jacqui: Yeah, but how many do you get from a hot girl?
Then she promises even more stolen merchandise.
Jacqui: If you give me a thousand, I can bring in a Mercedes tomorrow.
Undercover police: How you gonna do that?
Jacqui: ‘Cause my friend has one.
She does return with an older friend—but not with a Mercedes, instead with a Mitsubishi Eclipse.
Undercover police: That’s your boyfriend’s car?
Anastasia: Yeah.
Undercover police: He told you to bring it?
Anastasia: Yeah, he just gave me the car or whatever.
Undercover police: To bring it down here or just to have it?
Anastasia: No, he just told me I could have it it and I didn’t want it.
Police say they later learn she’s lying: Her boyfriend allegedly carjacked the vehicle, and beat up the owner.
And her boyfriend isn’t the only carjacker flushed out by the sting – one criminal brags about how he has the keys to stolen cars.
"Twenty": I got the key to that one, key to that one.
Undercover police: How’d you get the keys, man?
He shows them how— with a gun. Police immediately try to buy the gun to get it out of his hands and off the street.
Undercover police: Hey let me buy that off you dude
They negotiate a little bit. But the thief hesitates.
Later, the police try again.
Undercover police: Hey man, let me look at that piece of s--- one more time.
"Twenty": Man...
Undercover police: Unload it, unload it.
"Twenty": Yeah I’m going to unload it here.
Undercover police: How come I can’t buy this off of you, man?
Undercover police: How much did you pay for it?
"Twenty": I paid $250 for that.
The carjacker finally agrees to sell the gun along with the cars.
Tio: Let’s settle up, how much you want for them cars together.
"Twenty": Two.
Undercover police: Two grand for both them cars?
"Twenty": Both of them.
Undercover police: Man, you getting hard"Twenty": You know what, man. I got keys, I got low mileage, I’m giving you what you need.
He makes a tidy profit—but the cops score too. The gun they buy can be used as evidence... instead of as a weapon in another carjacking.
Tio: Once we found out he was actually robbing people at gunpoint, we couldn’t continue to allow him to run the streets and continue robbin’ people and takin’ their cars and bringin’ ‘em over to us and sellin’ them.
Still, they say it’s only a matter of time before he gets another weapon. They want to stop him before he strikes again. They have to decide - when do they want to start arresting the sting suspects. How long can they let known these criminals can roam the streets?
They decide it’s time to cut them off before someone gets hurt—or killed.
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