SAN ANTONIO — The Bexar County Sherriff's Office (BCSO) executed multiple search warrants targeting an auto-theft crime ring early Thursday morning.
Sheriff Javier Salazar said the Organized Crime Division worked alongside their Criminal Investigations Division to execute a series of warrants at Alexander Hamilton Drive near Jefferson High School, Wrangler Run in deep southeast Bexar County and Victory Cavern located in far west Bexar County.
"This is all part of an organized crime ring. These folks, they all know each other, they all work together to steal cars," Salazar said.
According to BCSO, they have three people in custody on various charges including some unrelated to the auto theft ring.
Salazar said 22-year-old Bryan Salazar and 21-year-old Jocelyn Guzman were both arrested at the Victory Cavern location. Bryan was charged with tampering with evidence and deadly conduct and Guzman was charged with fraud.
Authorities also arrested 20-year-old Isaiah Perales for auto theft at the Wrangler Run location.
Salazar said they are still looking for at least one suspect. Investigators executed a search warrant at Alexander Hamilton in the hopes of finding 18-year-old Ashton Garcia but he was not found at the location.
Garcia is wanted for auto theft, according to BCSO.
Salazar said he urges the public to come forward with any information that could lead to the arrest of Garcia.
"For the person that's still on the run he might want to consider turning himself in sooner rather than later because we're not going to stop looking for him," Salazar said. "To save his friends and family and associates a whole lot of headache and heartache, he may want to consider turning himself in."
According to BCSO, all three people were taken into custody without incident.
Salazar said narcotics and weapons were found at least one of the locations along with a device that is used to clone key fobs. The suspects are believed to have been targeting Dodge Chargers and Challengers but Salazar said other vehicle models were also targeted.
Salazar said the suspects would break into cars, steal them and use them to steal other vehicles.
According to an arrest affidavit, investigators found evidence of the auto theft ring through conversations between Perales and Garcia through Instagram. Perales posted a video of the stolen Dodge Charger with the license plate visible on Instagram. The investigator states that the same address, date and time of the Instagram conversation matched the date the Dodge Charger was reported as stolen by the owner.
"These folks are pretty sophisticated," he said. "We believe that it's part of something bigger. We are hoping to find evidence of other crimes, certainly. But at the very least, this morning, it was a highly successful operation in breaking up an auto theft ring at this point."
Salazar noted that it took a lot of coordination for multiple departments to hit these locations simultaneously.