A bright purple McLaren valued at $285,000 has been seized at the home of an Irvine resident who police say is tied to an interstate auto theft ring.
Zihua Zhang, 37, of Irvine was pulled over in a stolen Dodge Durango SRT, valued at $88,000, Irvine police spokesman Kyle Oldoerp said. The operation Zhang is believed to be involved in stole or bought stolen cars, replaced the vehicle identification numbers with fakes, and then sold the autos, Oldoerp said.
Police located the McLaren at Zhang’s residence in Woodbridge, along with fraudulent VIN plates, license plates and checks, as well as three unregistered firearms, Oldoerp said.
Zhang was arrested.
“We have been investigating this guy for just under a month,” Oldoerp said on Saturday, Nov. 23. “We have tied him to at least five stolen vehicles.”
Police also determined that Zhang was using an unknown device to detect and defeat GPS tracking, possibly by blocking the signal, Oldoerp said.
It was unclear if all five cars were located. Information about the other three vehicles was not immediately available.
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