Houston man charged in $1M vehicle theft scheme
Houston - A 29-year-old Houston resident finds himself in hot water after being accused of orchestrating a scheme to steal over $1 million worth of vehicles.
According to the allegations, Kenneth Dwayne Westbrook used Instagram to recruit individuals, enticing them with promises of payment for renting vehicles on his behalf. However, instead of returning the vehicles as agreed upon, he allegedly had them taken to Mexico after picking them up, ignoring the pleas of the renters who reached out to him for their return. It's claimed that Westbrook repeated this process with more than 25 vehicles, resulting in a loss exceeding $1 million.
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If found guilty, Westbrook could face a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison, along with a potential maximum fine of $250,000 for each count listed in the indictment.
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The investigation was conducted by the FBI, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tyler White and Michael Chu handling the prosecution.
It's important to note that an indictment serves as a formal accusation of criminal behavior and does not constitute evidence. As per the legal principle, a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty through the proper legal procedures.