Wayne Stewart charged with 50 counts including theft, fraud and forgery for his part in an international car-theft ring

Wayne Stewart, of Barrie, was charged with 50 counts including theft, fraud and forgery for his part in an international car-theft ring that targeted high-end vehicles.
A judge has issued a warrant for the arrest of one of the "ringleaders" who was to be sentenced yesterday in a multi-million dollar car-theft ring. Yesterday, Stewart, who was out on bail, was to be sentenced for the crimes after pleading guilty last month. But he was nowhere to be seen. Court staff paged Stewart several times, and his lawyer made several phone calls with no response. In the end, Justice Bruce Harris issued a warrant for his arrest. Stewart was one of about a dozen people busted in a nationwide joint police investigation called "Project Eastbound" that targeted an international high-end car-theft ring in October 2006. Following a 14-month investigation by the Provincial Auto Theft Team, (PATT), the OPP held a press conference where police announced they had cracked the auto-theft ring, and recovered $6 million worth of high-end vehicles, including Hummers, Porsches and Cadillacs. Police say the theft ring used Ontario Ministry of Transport offices to issue fraudulent vehicle identification numbers, or VINs, for stolen vehicles, so they could be resold as legitimate. Once issued a bogus VIN, the stolen vehicles could be resold as legitimate vehicles. The court has heard that some of the ringleaders would hire people to approach strangers and offer them $200 to go to the ministry office with a false bill of sale to get a new VIN. They were also given the cash to pay the tax on the vehicle. Often, the people that were approached were down on their luck, and some were even approached as they stood in the unemployment line looking for work. Others were drug addicts desperate for cash and would do the errand without ever knowing what they were involved in. Most of those people have already been sentenced and received $500 fines and probation.

Police say auto theft is a $600 million a year industry in Canada, and, in Ontario alone, more than 53,000 cars are stolen each year. Many are exported to other provinces and countries.