I'm surprised with all the talk about stolen cars on the forum that no one has mentioned the recent raid of the largest Detroit chop shop in the past decade at 10400 Lydon St. 179 cars seized. 87 confirmed stolen. Seems it's all over the Windsor news because a Windsorite was involved. They paid cash to anyone who brought in a car. Did anyone here get one of their cars back?

http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Wind...065/story.html

Windsorite faces charges over huge Detroit chop shop

179 vehicles seized in raid on Lyndon Street

By Dalson Chen, The Windsor Star August 4, 2012



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A 71-year-old Windsor man is facing felony charges in connection with Detroit's largest "chop shop" operation in more than a decade.
Detroit police raided Midland Used Auto Parts in the 10400 block of Lyndon Street on Thursday afternoon, resulting in the seizure of 179 vehicles, some of which were in the process of being taken apart.
As of Friday afternoon, at least 87 of those vehicles have been confirmed stolen - and the number is expected to rise.
Sgt. Robert Wellman of the Detroit Police commercial auto theft section said the bust was among the most massive he's seen yet.
"I've been doing auto thefts specifically for the last 13 years," Wellman said in a phone interview. "This is the largest amount of stolen vehicles that we've had at one location."
Detroit police won't release the name of the elderly Windsor suspect until arraignment - which is expected to happen on Saturday.
Wellman said the man owns the business, and the charges against him could carry a sentence of 20 years.
The Michigan Penal Code has a specific charge for running a "chop shop" - which is defined as an operation engaged in altering, dismantling, reassembling, or disguising a stolen motor vehicle or stolen vehicle components.
Wellman said the suspect also faces charges of receiving and concealing stolen property.
"People were bringing the vehicles to him, and he was paying cash for them," Wellman said.
Employees of the man were allegedly disassembling the stolen vehicles into parts for online resale.
After the vehicles had been picked clean, the remains would be crushed and sold for scrap, Wellman said.
Wellman said most of the seized cars were older mid-range vehicles, with model years from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s.
Among the confirmed stolen items: a 2002 Jaguar, a 1999 Jeep, and various Dodge Intrepids.
Also seized were a bulldozer, an earthmover, and a motorhome - although, as of Friday, it hadn't been confirmed that these items were stolen. "They still need to be identified," Wellman said.
Asked how such a large operation could go on seemingly unnoticed, Wellman pointed out that the business is a fenced property with significant acreage.
"It was being set up as a junkyard," Wellman said.
Investigators are still trying to determine how long the alleged chop shop side of the business was running. Wellman said he doesn't believe it was very long - officers previously visited the site within the past year and found no sign of stolen vehicles.
Wellman credited a combination of police work and tips from the public [[through Michigan's Help Eliminate Auto Thefts program) for the information that led to the raid.
"The investigation is always continuing," Wellman said. "At this point right now, we don't have anybody else that we're looking at for arrest. But [[the case) is ongoing."