Two men arrested in connection with 25 Honda thefts in Richmond
Two men have been arrested in connection with the theft of 25 Honda CRVs and Accords from Richmond’s Woodland Heights and Northside neighborhoods over the past three weeks.
On Thursday, police arrested and charged Jhon Alexander Jabier, 22, and Luiyi Munoz-Inoa, 33, with grand larceny-auto and conspiracy to commit larceny. Police said Jabier’s last known address was in Newark, New Jersey, while Munoz-Inoa is from Hazle Township, Pennsylvania, an area about 100 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
According to the Richmond Police Department, the thefts were traced to the Petersburg area, where detectives located a chop shop containing dozens of Honda parts including several motors linked to vehicles stolen from Richmond.
“We feel confident that we’ve disrupted the string of Honda CRVs that were stolen in the two specific areas of the city,” said Richmond Lt. Brian Rogers Monday.
While investigation is still underway, Richmond police said the thefts may be connected to a larger criminal operation. Philadelphia police have recently found a chop shop in that city where stolen Hondas were being stripped for parts.
Two of the vehicles found at the Petersburg chop shop, located in a former auto repair business in the 2500 block of Deerfield Drive, had been stolen from New York State.
“We’re in very early stages, so it wouldn’t surprise us if there’s more people involved,” said Rogers.
While Richmond police initially thought car thieves may have been using some kind of device to unlock the stolen Hondas, Rogers said Monday that in many cases the entire door lock assembly was simply torn out of the vehicles.
Michael Phillips
“What we think was happening is they were defeating the door mechanism or the door lock, entering the car and stealing it with some kind of technology device from there,” he said.
Police apprehended Jabier and Munoz-Inoa Thursday after a Flock camera in Petersburg picked up the license plate of a vehicle that had just been stolen from Richmond.
An AirTag placed by an owner inside another stolen vehicle as a precautionary measure also helped lead police to what Rogers described as “a pretty significant chop shop operation” with approximately 35 car doors, 10 hoods, 12 trunk lids and dozens of other Honda parts. One Honda CRV recently stolen from Richmond was found cut in half.
Other Richmond owners were more lucky: five have been returned “with minimum damage to the locking mechanism,” said Rogers.
While no additional thefts of Hondas have occurred in Richmond since the Thursday arrests, Rogers urged owners to continue taking precautions such as using wheel locks.
“The risk of your Honda being stolen still remains,” he said. “You know, if it’s not this group of individuals, it could be just as easily another group of individuals.”
Contact Reporter Sarah Vogelsong at svogelsong@richmonder.org
