MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office detectives inspecting a towing business walked in to find a worker dismantling a Chevrolet Corvette Tuesday, an arrest report states.
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But they allege that the ASAP Towing & Recovery worker was hardly “recovering” anything. Instead, they said he was stripping the undamaged, stolen sports car for parts.
Deputies would eventually arrest three workers at the shop, located at 2154 NW 95th St. in the county’s unincorporated West Little River area: Frank Christopher Bada, 34, of North Bay Village, and two Miami men, Sergio Cuevas-Pena, 56, and Idalberto Roberto Valdes, 24.
All are facing four counts of possession of a vehicle with an altered ID, two counts of grand theft auto and one count of operating, owning, aiding or abetting a chop shop.
Authorities said Cuevas-Pena was the one stripping down the Corvette when the MDSO team came in at around 11 a.m. for the inspection, allowed under state law.
Cuevas-Pena "started to walk to the rear door at a fast pace" when he noticed one of the detectives coming in. That detective detained him.
Bada, identified as the facility’s manager, was there as Cuevas-Pena was taking apart the Chevy, deputies said.
Valdes, a tow truck driver, made a statement that was redacted from the report. Deputies referenced a “fictitious” tow manifest invoice and said he was carrying a Glock 43X pistol, earning him an additional charge of using a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Authorities said they also found a Dodge Challenger with “identifying decals” removed from its engine.
Additionally, they said they located an engine and transmission in the bay of the shop with identifying numbers “physically ground off.”
Those two parts would later trace back to ones reported stolen in North Miami, the report states.
The three were later taken to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, where they remained as of Wednesday.
All three had submitted bond as of Wednesday afternoon, records show.