Blurry VIN on Facebook listing leads to arrest and recovery of stolen Honda in Okaloosa County
Okaloosa County, Florida – On Tuesday morning, deputies from the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office made an arrest after a routine traffic stop turned into something more serious behind the wheel. It all started with a tip that might have looked insignificant at first: a man looking for a used Honda CRV on Facebook Marketplace saw something peculiar. In every picture of the car for sale, the vehicle identifying number (VIN) was blurry. That made him suspicious, so he called the police.
Deputies were on high alert not long after they got the information. That morning, a patrol unit saw the suspicious Honda CRV driving south on North Beal Extension, which is just north of Fort Walton Beach. With caution, deputies initiated a traffic stop and started to dig in.
While they were looking into the car on the side of the road, deputies spotted an insurance card. The card’s VIN exposed the real story: the Honda had been stolen from New York. That wasn’t the end of it. The license plate on the car didn’t even belong to that car, which made these individuals even more suspicious.
The driver, who was later identified as 27-year-old Irvin Arias Marquez from Niceville, was escorted to the station to be booked. But things didn’t get any easier. The deputies saw that something wasn’t right. The individual told them different things about himself than what was on his Florida driver’s license. After some time, the police were able to confirm his identity and file charges.
Arias Marquez now faces a range of charges, including grand theft auto, using a license plate not assigned to the vehicle, driving as a habitual traffic offender with a suspended license, failure to register the vehicle, and providing false information on a driver’s license application.
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The Sheriff’s Office credited the success of this case to the teamwork between deputies working overnight and those starting their day shift. Not only was a stolen car found, but a person in the area was also saved from buying stolen goods without knowing it.
