The Federal Bureau of Investigation was able to track down and bust a crew of high-tech thieves in Metro Detroit. The thieves were accused of stealing cars and tricks in Metro Detroit, two of which belonged to Hall of Famer Jack Roush. Roush had two Ford trucks stolen in late 2022 directly at the headquarters of Roush Enterprises in Livonia. However, thanks to an undercover operation carried out by the FBI, the culprit has been nabbed and at least one of Roush’s trucks has been recovered.

Court files revealed a year-long FBI probe across the Midwest and South that led to a garage in Milwaukee, from where they were able to locate and arrest the perpetrators.

How did the FBI find the people stealing from Jack Roush?

In March 2022, an investigation was launched into several high-end vehicles stolen in Metro Detroit.  As per unsealed court documents, Roush Enterprises had their trucks stolen on November 18 of that year. Surveillance footage showed an F-150 pull into a stall at a used car dealership in Milwaukee, 10 days after the trucks were stolen.

Two days later, surveillance footage showed the truck outside the dealership. The thefts were traced back to Diaunte Shields, 29, of Racine, Wisconsin according to the unsealed court documents. In the surveillance footage, Shields was seen arriving at a storage facility in a gray Ford F-150 that had a Michigan license plate. It was one of Roush’s stolen trucks, according to the affidavit.

In the warrant in the court documents, FBI Special Agent Shane Hoffmann said, “The vehicles were taken by individuals wearing ski masks who had exited a black SUV,” as reported by The Detroit News. This was one of the crucial points during the investigation, as agents had spotted glimpses of one of Roush’s trucks.

Apart from Shields, a second man a part of the operation was indicted in federal court in Wisconsin last month. They were accused of conspiring to deal in stolen motor vehicles. While one of Roush’s trucks was located in Texas, the whereabouts of the other is uncertain. The investigation and subsequent tracking down wasn’t an easy task.

The thieves swapped out VINs on many of these stolen models. The VIN stamp is a number etched onto either the engine, transmission, or frame of the car. However, thanks to the connected vehicle technology, surveillance footage study, and some good old detective work, the FBI was able to track down the culprits.

After a Jeep was stolen from the Milwaukee airport, subsequent investigations and a tip led the FBI to a parking lot in Milwaukee, where they spotted a white Ford Transit van. The van had receipts for windshields connecting the owner, Diaunte Shields, to vehicle models that were being stolen. As a result, the FBI used the VIN numbers to verify if the vehicle involved was stolen. Shields was under close watch, with an iCloud account containing conversations about selling stolen cars being discovered through a search warrant.

A tracker was installed in a Dodge Challenger found in a Milwaukee home, which was then moved to a storage facility.

The company, Roush Enterprises, is known for its aftermarket additions to the car, including the Roush F-150 Nitemare and the 710-horse JackHammer Mustang. If it was indeed a F-150 Nitemare stolen, the car could have been worth over $100,000, since the Nitemare update is worth roughly $20,000 on top of the massively expensive truck.

Ford has been the victim of automotive theft, as a number of Ford F-150 models have been stolen from its own lots in recent years. In 2022, a 2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R, which was reportedly on its way to a Ford development facility,  was stolen from the company’s lot on Miller Road in Dearborn. Notably, this isn’t also the first time one of Roush’s creations has faced the problem of theft.

Little less than a year ago, reports of a 2003 Ford Mustang being stolen from a Public Storage facility in Arlington, Texas emerged. What was so special about this car? It was alleged to have the sign of Jack Roush himself, making it a valuable Mustang indeed. Whether the theft was because of Roush’s signature remains a mystery, but it does point to the larger issue.

These thefts have been a growing part of the problem in automotive businesses. The black market demand for cars and their parts has led to a sharp spike in car thefts, with the number of incidences reaching as high as 28,408 in 2023.

For now, with the NASCAR season back in full swing, things are looking good for Jack Roush and Co., especially after their Bowman Gray outing.

Things turn out positively for RFK Racing at Bowman Gray

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With Chris Buescher starting in the top 5, things were already looking good for RFK Racing before the full-fledged start of the Cup Series. There were a lot of questions hanging in the air, not about Buescher or Keselowski, but mainly around Ryan Preece’s signing. Yet, the new driver managed to impress fans in a big way. He managed a solid 11th-place finish at a chaotic Bowman Gray finish. Team owner and driver Brad Keselowski wasn’t so lucky after a late race incident meant he finished 21st.

Speaking about the first race, Keselowski said, “We showed a lot of potential early on, but we got spun there with 75 to go and really never had a chance to recover. We were solid. Just a 5th to 10th place car the whole day. We tried to get a little bit more but overall, a good debut outing for a team that’s had a lot of changes.”

With sponsor Kroger on board and a third charter added to the mix, Jack Roush and Brad Keselowski have set things up well for the new season. All that remains to be seen is whether they can use this to have any hope of winning the Cup Series title this year.