Scam to Illegally Buy, Resell Cars Uncovered : Theft: El Cajon man provides key tip in the arrest of a man who allegedly used fraud to buy the vehicles in San Diego and Riverside counties for resale out of state.

A purported con man who allegedly altered a cashier’s check and a money order to buy nine used cars and trucks in San Diego and Riverside counties has been arrested in connection with an interstate auto theft scheme, CHP officials said Tuesday.

John Frederick Warye of Boron, Calif., allegedly purchased a $5 money order and a $97 cashier’s check from the First Community Bank in Twentynine Palms and later, after altering the money order and check to reflect a higher value, used them nine times to buy cars and trucks each ranging in price from $7,000 to $17,000, authorities said.

The scheme included the delivery of three of the vehicles to Arizona.

A tip by an El Cajon man, whom authorities declined to identify, spurred CHP officials to launch an investigation, CHP spokesman John Marinez said. Warye apparently had convinced the man that he was a car dealer from Oklahoma who needed a place to temporarily store his vehicles before shipping them back East, Marinez said.

The El Cajon resident became suspicious of Warye after he heard the description of a suspect involved in a cashier’s check scam on the evening news, Marinez said. The man gave CHP investigators the license plate numbers of the cars and trucks parked in his lot, and authorities confirmed that all eight vehicles had been reported stolen.

A stakeout of the lot led to the arrest of a suspect who authorities later discovered was also under the assumption that Warye was a legitimate car dealer from Oklahoma, Marinez said.

Further questioning of the suspect, whom authorities also declined to identify, revealed that three of the vehicles were to be delivered to Buckeye, Ariz., last Thursday.

The suspect agreed to cooperate with the CHP and the FBI and drove with two undercover officers to Arizona to make the delivery to Warye, who never showed up, Marinez said.

Meanwhile, FBI officials in Twentynine Palms also had launched an investigation into Warye’s activities and had alerted banks in the Palm Springs area, Marinez said.

Last Friday, Warye returned to the First Community Bank in Twentynine Palms and tried to purchase another cashier’s check, Marinez said. Bank officials contacted the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, and Warye was taken into custody.

Warye was driving the ninth stolen car, a 1990 Nissan Maxima, at the time of his arrest, Marinez said.

Federal charges of conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property were filed against Warye in San Diego, FBI officials said. Warye, who will be transferred to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, is being held at the San Bernardino Sheriff’s substation in Morongo. His bail was set at $100,000.