Police say an Irvine man orchestrated a car-laundering scheme in which he bought stolen cars and trucks and resold them with false identifiers.
Zihua Zhang, 37, was arrested Thursday while driving a Dodge Durango SRT that Irvine police said was stolen. Police said they found an even bigger prize at a home in Woodbridge: a stolen purple McLaren worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Irvine Police Department detectives were following up on a car theft that led to an arrest. Zhang is suspected of purchasing stolen luxury cars and selling them after replacing the chassis number with a fake one.
Police said the Durango SRT Zhang was driving when he was stopped Thursday had an altered VIN plate.
In addition to the McLaren, police said they found fraudulent VIN plates, license plates, checks, and three unregistered firearms at Zhang’s home.
He was booked into the Orange County Jail. Irvine police did not say Monday whether Zhang remains in custody.
