MIAMI – A woman who worked as a clerk at a Miami tag agency is facing 36 felony charges for what prosecutors said was her role in a multi-million-dollar title fraud scheme involving at least a dozen stolen vehicles.
According to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, the investigation began during a chop shop bust in Doral on Jan. 12.
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A Tuesday news release states that police responded to 5161 NW 79th Ave. after a stolen vehicle pinged inside the auto shop; after detectives obtained a search warrant, they found three stolen vehicles, “including a 2022 Lamborghini Urus, a 2023 Aston Martin DBS Superleggera, a 2021 Mercedes-Benz G550 and two fraudulent VIN plates.”
Police arrested the owner of the chop shop, whom prosecutors did not immediately identify Tuesday.
That’s when the investigation turned to Katherine M. Vera Moran, prosecutors said. They said detectives discovered the 27-year-old’s role in the auto theft operation after they questioned the auto shop owner.
Vera Moran, prosecutors said, worked as a clerk at Baumgardner Auto Tag Agency, located at 1375 NW 36th St. in Miami’s Allapattah neighborhood.
Prosecutors said that Vera Moran, of northwest Miami-Dade, forged titles and tax documents on stolen vehicles, receiving $800 to $1,000 in cash or Cash App payments for each fraudulent title transaction.
“The investigation exposed Vera Moran’s frequent manipulation of VINs associated with total loss vehicles, such as transferring a 2020 White Jeep Gladiator, deemed a total loss due to extensive fire damage, to a salvage rebuilt title appearing in perfect condition,” the SAO news release states.
Authorities said 18 vehicles were recovered and/or positively identified with altered VINs, of which 12 were “confirmed to be stolen” and processed by Vera Moran.
Those vehicles were worth about $3,385,000 combined, prosecutors said.
An arrest report states that Doral police arrested Vera Moran at the tag agency Monday morning.
Police said during an interview with detectives, she said “it was not her job to verify the documents that she processes and that she is not a police officer,” and that she “just simply generates the documents for the vehicles based on the paperwork and titles she receives and she has no way of verifying the authenticity of the documents,” claiming she only deals with “dealership requests.”
The report states that when a detective informed her that most of the titles went to individuals, she said she “sometimes takes personal requests from clients who only want to deal with her” and said she “sometimes receives tips from her clients” of around $200 via Cash App.
Police said Vera Moran consented to a phone search, where detectives found “multiple photos of drivers’ licenses and title documents.”
“Fraudulent title transfers not only deceive the system but inflict profound harm on victims who suffer the loss of property and insurance companies who are forced to cover theft claims,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in the news release. “Such crimes can have a lasting and detrimental impact on our community, costing the hardworking citizens of Miami-Dade County by driving up car insurance premiums.”
The release states that SAO investigators worked with Doral and Miami police, along with the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and the Miami-Dade tax collector’s office, to make the arrest.
“Our team of detectives worked diligently with the State Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners to target, infiltrate, and dismantle a criminal enterprise and I am grateful for their exemplary service,” Doral police Chief Edwin Lopez said, in part, in the release.
Vera Moran is facing 18 counts each of official misconduct and title fraud.
“This is a very active case, but we’ve been able to put a significant dent in it,” Lopez said during a news conference Tuesday.
According to jail records, the Ecuadorian national was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center and was being held on a $50,000 bond.
Those records show she was also already out on felony bond on a charge of leaving the scene of a crash causing no serious injury and she also remains jailed on a magistrate hold.