2008 IAATI AWARD OF MERIT RECIPIENTS: (L toR) Det. Charles Baker, Det. Edward Gesser, Jimmy Hester, Inv. Hallie Crance, Special Agent Jared Stahl. (Not Pictured: Trooper First Class Chris Thomas).

IAATI's Award of Merit was created in 1992 in order to honor to a person, group, department, or company in recognition for outstanding contribution in the area of vehicle theft investigation or
prevention.

On May 5, 2004, a meeting was held between Detective Baker of the Charles Co. Maryland Sheriff's Dept. and Detective Gesser of the Prince George Police Department. The Detectives were
discussing a recent auto theft case when they realized that one individual was a common element in two of their cases. They turned this conversation into a 3 ½ year multi-jurisdictional investigation.
They were soon joined by Investigator Crance of the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration, Trooper First Class Thomas of the Maryland State Police, and Detective Stahl of the University of Maryland Police Dept.

Thieves were targeting SUVs and other high end vehicles such as Corvettes, BMW's, Mercedes Benz, Cadillacs, and Jaguars. The investigators found multiple suspects working together using
counterfeit VIN plates and counterfeit documents to conceal the identity of the stolen vehicles. Using a confidential source, other investigative techniques and executing 10 search warrants, they
developed enough information to arrest and charge all of the 14 individuals involved.

During the investigation, one of the individuals involved was murdered on his car lot. The murder case is still under investigation. 

These investigators managed to accomplish a great deal without the benefit of a dedicated task force. In all, they were able to identify 87 stolen vehicles that were titled through fraudulent means.
The total value of the vehicles was $2,245,810. Due to the hard work and dedication by this group of investigators, the vast majority of these vehicles were recovered and returned to their
rightful owners.

IAATI salutes this group for a great job with the Award of Merit.

The 2008 Recipients of the award are:

• Det. Charles Baker, Charles Co. Maryland Sheriff's Dept.
• Det. Edward Gesser, Prince George Co. Maryland Police Dept.
• Inv. Hallie Crance, Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration
• Trooper First Class Chris Thomas, Maryland State Police
• Special Agent Jared Stahl, U. S. Secret Service