Four south Floridians charged in SWFL International Airport rental vehicle theft scam

An alleged rental car theft ring that operates across the state was interrupted by police Friday with the arrest of four south Florida residents at Southwest Florida International Airport.

A Lee County Port Authority police report said the rental thefts happened at airports in Fort Myers, Naples, Orlando, and Palm Beach and at smaller rental locations around south Florida located outside airports. 

Arrested were Rosalyn Ann Jones, 37, Joshua Palacio, 31, and Josue Perdomocruz, 23, all of Miami, and Alexis Bryan, 21, of West Palm Beach. All remain in Lee County Jail.

A police report said the four were arrested shortly before 1 a.m. Friday morning when a Port Authority officer, looking for new, expensive vehicles that have been fraudulently rented from rental agencies at the airport, spotted a black Infinity QX60 SUV parked at the 7-Eleven off Terminal Access Road.

A check of the license plate found it was three weeks overdue for return.  Police said the name of the renter came from a stolen ID and had been used to fraudulently rent several other vehicles at airport rental agencies.

Officers who stopped the vehicle also smelled marijuana coming from inside the car.

More:Lehigh Acres neighborhood the target for unlocked car burglaries; two suspects sought

More:SWFL Crime Stoppers search for suspects in Lehigh Acres car burglaries

A search of the car found a purse belonging to Jones that had four different IDs and credit cards matching each as well as two pipes commonly used to smoke cocaine that had a white, powdery residue on them.

Jones, who initially identified herself under a different name and age, at first declined to talk to officers but later relented.

The police report said Jones described the theft process saying that a person in Miami Gardens initially parks the stolen vehicles at his home and eventually moves them to other locations in the city.

She said the organizer then finds homeless people or drug addicts to rent vehicles using stolen ID's and credit cards. The ring leaders match those renting cars to the stolen identification and cards that most look like them, Jones told police.

Palacio told police that a man from Opa Locka named "Bobo" paid him $100 to supervise the rentals at RSW. Jones identified Bobo as the man from Miami Gardens.

Palacio said Bobo and another man from West Palm Beach named "Wacko" buy damaged or totaled cars at auction and then have similar vehicles stolen with VIN's and parts being swapped.

Jones said rentals are made daily at the Orlando airport, every few days at Fort Myers and Naples airports, and one or two a week at Palm Beach airport.

The police report said one person will use the IDs to rent the vehicles and another will drive the vehicles back to Miami Gardens, paying those involved either $100 for each vehicle or in drugs.

Jones told police she had recently done about 10 such runs with the three others involved in some of those. Jones also said she used the other identifications in her purse to recently rent an Infinity Q50 from Fort Myers and had planned on renting a Porsche 911 Friday night.

An iPhone belonging to Bryan had messages on the screen talking about flipping vehicle identification numbers on a car.

Also found in the car was about a half-ounce of marijuana and Palacio's Samsung J7 phone.

The report said Palacio gave consent to search the phone and under the message tab there were texts that police described as "shopping lists" of cars to be stolen and sold and requests by individuals for specific cars.

More:Cape Coral police, public combine to catch car theft duo

More:LCSO: Lehigh Acres home invaders take Xbox Ones, Camaro

There have been five other cases of renting cars by fraudulent means this year at RSW, Victoria B. Moreland, a spokeswoman for the Port Authority, said.

 “The Port Authority Police Department has been focused on rental car fraud and we hope this arrest will serve as a deterrent for any future attempt at RSW car rental agencies," Port Authority police Chief Shawn Chamberlain said.

Jones faces 16 charges including eight counts of possessing stolen credit cards, three counts of false identification, two counts of conspiracy, grand theft of a vehicle, possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia. She has a $142,500 bond and will be arraigned July 16.

Charges against Palacio include smuggling contraband into a detention facility, attempted criminal solicitation, possession of marijuana and vehicle theft. He has a $35,000 bond and will be arraigned July 16.

Perdomocruz faces two counts of conspiracy, false name and identification, grand theft of a vehicle and an out-of-county warrant. He has a $30,000 bond and will be arraigned July 16.

Bryan will also be arraigned July 16 on charges of grand theft of a vehicle and two counts of conspiracy.

Port Authority police notified police in Miami Gardens of stolen vehicles and identified a suspect at a specific address there.

Connect with this reporter: MichaelBraunNP (Facebook) @MichaelBraunNP (Twitter)