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Three San Jose residents face federal conspiracy charges after prosecutors allege they led a nearly five-year scheme of purchasing used cars, rolling back the odometers and falsifying documents, and reselling the vehicles at significant profit, including incidents in San Ramon.
The criminal complaint, unsealed on May 5, alleges Seymur Khalilov, 32; Ramil Heydarov, 31; and Orkhan Aliyev, 31, fraudulently sold at least a dozen cars for approximately $300,000 overall between 2016 and this year.
Each has been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California. Multiple cases occurred in San Ramon.
“Based on our investigation, the suspects would purchase well-kept high-mileage vehicles online through Craigslist and Facebook. They would then roll-back the mileage on the vehicles and fraudulently resell them for $5,000 to $10,000 more,” San Ramon police Capt. Denton Carlson told the Weekly.
San Ramon police initially began investigating two cases involving Khalilov and Heydarov, according to Carlson. For one case in San Ramon, local investigators allegedly tracked a falsified sale and conducted a surveillance operation that resulted in Heydarov “being caught directly in the process of selling a fraudulently rolled-back vehicle.”
Subsequent investigation after Heydarov’s arrest revealed cellphone records and online ads associated with fraudulent sales over a period of years, according to Carlson.
“Federal investigators had also been investigating the suspects and ultimately charged them with wire fraud based on the evidence obtained from our investigation and the federal investigation,” Carlson said.
In addition to tampering with the odometers, federal authorities allege the three defendants illegally altered vehicle title and registration documents to reflect lower mileage totals and other false information to cover their tracks. They also allegedly lied about being the original owner of the vehicles.
Aliyev was arraigned earlier this month and released on unsecured bond in the amount of $100,000, while Khalilov and Heydarov were scheduled for arraignment later this week, according to prosecutors. Defense counsels could not immediately be reached for comment.
In God We Trust. All others are under intense scrutiny.
From the names, it would appear that the three are Russian. So the Feds might want to see how they came to be in our country, and deport them, if possible as being “undesirable.” Particularly if they are resident aliens or have had citizenship conferred on them as recent immigrants. A whole lot better, and cheaper, than putting them up in prison at taxpayers expense. Long past time for America to start taking out the trash.