Police Find Stolen Cars, Parts at ‘Chop Shop,’ Hold 2 Suspects

Police have arrested two men who allegedly operated a stolen-auto-parts ring in the backyard of a Winnetka home.

“We found a bunch of cars . . . and equipment to cut nice new cars into itty-bitty pieces,”Detective Paul Stewart said Wednesday.

On Thursday afternoon Los Angeles police arrested the two residents of the Mason Avenue home, Felix Barba, 32, and James Mickey, 18, an escapee from a California Youth Authority camp, on auto-theft charges. Police, who took several hours to catalogue and haul confiscated auto parts to an auto body shop, said they believe more people were involved in the operation.

Police said the Winnetka residence may have been used to strip cars for as long as six months.

Apparently, it was the noise generated by air compressors, torches, drills and assorted tools required to strip cars that was the suspects’ downfall, police said. Stewart speculated that the anonymous tip that led police to the operation came from a neighbor who “finally had enough of the late-night drills.”

Police said they could not immediately determine how large the “chop shop” operation was. But Stewart said that closing down the backyard operation in the 7700 block of Mason Avenue will “put a big dent in our auto thefts.” He said the two men were “taking a lot of cars.”

Police found three cars in various stages of dismantling and found assorted parts of roughly eight late-model cars. All the cars that police could identify had been stolen from Valley residents.

Among the vehicles police were too late to save was a red Toyota that had been cut into six pieces and a 1984 blue Toyota Supra, which had been gutted.