Auto Dismantler Surrenders License After Investigators Find Stolen Parts

A San Fernando Valley auto theft task force has succeeded for the first time in canceling the auto dismantling license of a suspected “chop shop” where stolen cars were allegedly stripped for parts, state Department of Motor Vehicles officials said Friday.

The operators of B.B.’s Auto and Truck Parts in Pacoima, where authorities found at least 36 parts from stolen vehicles during a routine inspection, agreed to surrender the shop’s license, officials said.

DMV Investigator Mike Chaney said officers assigned to the Valley Auto Theft Task Force inspected B.B.’s, located in the 10200 block of Glenoaks Boulevard, on April 6 and found 36 identifiable stolen vehicle parts. He said there were numerous other parts from which serial numbers, used by investigators to trace ownership, had been removed.

“There were engines, doors, dashboards, parts from numerous vehicles,” Chaney said.

Chaney said the business is suspected of having operated as a “chop shop”--a place where stolen cars are disassembled and the parts sold to the unsuspecting public. Investigators arrested the manager, Chris Nam, 58, of Granada Hills and he later pleaded not guilty to a charge of receiving stolen property.

After the arrest, the DMV began procedures to strip the business of its state license to dismantle cars and buy and sell parts. The license was held by Nam’s wife, Jenny, who this week agreed to surrender it, Chaney said. Without the license, the business will be allowed to operate only as a repair shop, he said.

“She stipulated without admitting guilt that the department can establish . . . that her business knowingly purchased, concealed, possessed or otherwise acquired or disposed of several stolen vehicles,” Chaney said.

The arrest and stolen parts discovery that led to the loss of the license came during a routine inspection by members of the task force made up of investigators from the DMV, Los Angeles Police Department and the California Highway Patrol.

Although the group has made numerous arrests during its two-year existence, Chaney said the B.B.’s case is the first in which an operating license has been taken away from a business suspected of involvement in auto theft.