California Vehicle Code Section 10801 – Operating a Chop Shop
When it comes to these chop shop cases in Los Angeles, I've handled a lot of them over the last twenty-five years. This has to do with somebody running a location. That location could be an autobody shop, a building where cars are being moved in and out, a junkyard, a garage, or several different things—but basically, what's happening is people are coming with stolen cars to that location.
Those cars are disassembled, and then the parts are sold off. Sometimes, the vehicle VINs are changed, and then the cars are sold. The bottom line is that the authorities are on to this stuff because it's big business.
So, when people steal a car, they take it to one of these chop shops to chop it up. Obviously, a lot of money can be made this way, and the police are looking out for this type of stuff.
The police have special units – special task forces – both in the prosecuting agencies and law enforcement agencies investigating these crimes. They are sophisticated.
They know how to do surveillance, and they know how to execute search warrants – so, if you're charged with a chop shop case in Los Angeles under California Vehicle Code Section 10801, you're going to want to get an attorney who is familiar with these types of cases, who has handled them, who knows how to defend them and knows how to get the result that you're going to want because if there's a lot of money involved then the prosecutors and the judge are going to be looking to punish you severely.
Legal Defenses for Operating a Chop Shop
One defense – depending on who you are about the case – is whether you own the business where the supposed chop shop is being done, whether you're working in the industry, whether you're bringing a vehicle there – they're going to probably try to claim that you are part of some ring that's involved with chopping up vehicles and selling off the parts.
However, the defense that I see in these cases is knowledge. If you don't know that these vehicles coming in and out are stolen and they don't have evidence, and you've got a plausible story about why you're involved with the entity being raided by the police, you might have a defense in the case.
Then, you have to sit down with a seasoned criminal defense attorney who's handled these cases and flush out your defense. You'd like to be honest with the attorney. Please don't think you should be a spin on things. Could you give him the details? You'll want to look at the prosecutors' evidence about the case to see if they have a good case against you.
Other potential defenses surround the facts of the case. If the facts are favorable to you, then you have a good argument, which you would discuss with your attorney. Sometimes, the police illegally raid locations without search warrants, or they get a search warrant, and the search warrant is no good because it's not based on probable cause.
Under those circumstances, anything they find on the location would be suppressed – including their observations, statements, parts they see, and any vehicles they see – so this would be a great defense if they illegally enter the location and start grabbing and arresting people. I have that happen all the time, and then we file the motion, and obviously, we try to win the case.
Developing an Effective Legal Strategy
Your best strategy is to combine a list of questions to get all your defenses related to your version of events and then sit down with an attorney. Talk to him about it and get down to the nitty-gritty about what you can do to help yourself.
Could you be honest with the attorney and give him all the details? When I meet with people, I will try to tell them whether they have a good defense or whether they should try to do damage control and work out a resolution with the prosecutors in the case. Get character letters and do other things that show the judge that you're a good person.
One big thing that I like to do is get your version of events across to the prosecutor and judge because I often see one-sided investigations that don't consider your story and what's going on with you.
They look at it from one side, and a lot of times, law enforcement doesn't do a good, thorough job and doesn't take into account all the facts, so prosecutors are looking at you one way when they really shouldn't if they had all the details related to your case.
