ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — The man involved in a brazen theft at an Asheville BMW dealership in 2023 was one of four people sentenced for stealing luxury cars across the country.
The U.S. Department of Justice has identified Dewanne Lamar White, Kevin Jacorien James Fields, Reginald Eugene Hill, and Garika Vaughn Bost as members of a multi-million dollar car theft ring based in Charlotte. He announced that he was a member.
Federal officials said each defendant pleaded guilty to conspiring to transport, possess and sell stolen vehicles in interstate commerce.
A department spokesperson confirmed that White was part of a group that broke into a BMW in Asheville on Feb. 14, 2023, and drove off in four cars within minutes.
Federal officials say the defendants stole millions of dollars worth of vehicles from dealerships in more than a dozen states between 2021 and 2023, including manufacturers like Bentley, BMW, Cadillac, Land Rover, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz. targeted luxury cars.
On February 16, 2023, News 13 spoke with Patrick Williams, then sales manager at Asheville BMW, who described the scene where White was involved.
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He said when he arrived at work on the morning of Tuesday, Feb. 14, APD was already on scene. The crime scene was a large mess of glass.
Williams showed News 13 the crime using surveillance footage from the dealership.
Around 4:18 a.m., seven people drove to a BMW in Asheville and got off. One of the suspects threw a rock through a window on the side of the building.
They all entered through the broken window.
Williams said they were only inside for four minutes. During those four minutes, they used the same stone to break through a glass door and enter an office where a safe with a key was located.
The suspects then used a crowbar to pry open the safe and took all the car keys inside.
They can then be seen on the video exiting through the same hole they first entered and heading towards a parking lot with parked vehicles.
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Williams said the suspects began pressing every key to see which car they could get into.
Eventually they left in four cars. Williams said two of the items are new and the other two are used.
Williams said this is clearly not the first time the suspects have committed this type of crime.
He said the crime was sophisticated and there was no time for anyone to catch the perpetrators.
White was sentenced to nine years in prison.
The criminal investigation continues.
