Attorney General Dave Sunday announced charges against 13 individuals in connection with a central Pennsylvania-based vehicle title-washing operation that profited over $1 million through the sale of stolen vehicles from Florida.
The criminal enterprise, led by 44-year-old Anthony E. Troncoso, is accused of selling more than two dozen high-end stolen vehicles—such as Porsche, Mercedes, BMW, Land Rover, Audi, Lexus, and Infiniti—by falsifying ownership, registration, and insurance documents. The group then sold the vehicles to private buyers, dealerships, and at auctions between 2022 and 2023.
Troncoso faces nine felony and six misdemeanor charges, including corrupt organizations, title washing, and theft by deception.
The scheme involved fraudulent registrations at licensed tag agencies and notaries in Berks, Dauphin, and Lehigh counties, as well as at PennDOT headquarters in Dauphin County. Authorities say some Florida residents helped obtain fraudulent Pennsylvania ID cards for use in the titling process.
Assisting in the investigation were the Pennsylvania State Police, Berks and Lehigh County Detectives, NYPD, City of Miami Detectives, and the Miami-Dade Auto Theft Unit.
The 13 individuals charged are:
- Anthony Troncoso – 15 charges
- Brandon Troncoso (Anthony’s son) – 5 charges, in custody
- Aida Flores (Brandon’s mother) – 13 charges, to surrender Thursday
- Christina DeMase (Anthony’s girlfriend) – 1 charge, awaiting extradition from California
- Jean Garcia Rodriguez – 17 charges, to surrender Thursday
- Samantha Rosario – 10 charges, not in custody
- Heicha Vega-Baez – 18 charges, not in custody
- Michael Ramirez – 15 charges, awaiting extradition from Florida
- Fabiola Lucena – 1 charge, in custody
- Pablo Correa – 17 charges, not in custody
- Jose Ariza – 17 charges, not in custody
- Jeffrey Candelo – 10 charges, not in custody
- Dario Jiminez Lopez – 3 charges, not in custody
Several defendants have ties to Florida, other states, and Mexico. Arrests have been made, and some suspects are cooperating or expected to turn themselves in.
The Office of Attorney General’s Insurance Fraud Section will prosecute the cases. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
