Updated Friday July 19
An Oregon DMV worker and her boyfriend have been indicted in an alleged scheme to steal from dozens of cars in the metro area over at least two years using driver’s license information, authorities say.
Valerie Applegate, 37, of Happy Valley also is accused of accepting bribes to provide driver’s licenses to people, help people pass driver’s tests and other misconduct, Portland police said.
Applegate has worked for Oregon Driver and Motor Vehicle Services since June 2010 as a transportation services representative at the agency’s Mall 205 outlet in Southeast Portland, according to the state Department of Transportation. She has been on paid administrative leave since April 26.
Applegate is suspected of looking up driver information on cars at the behest of her boyfriend, Israel Fonseca, according to police. Fonseca, 36, is suspected of using the information to follow the cars from a driver’s home to malls, movie theaters and arena events, breaking in once they were parked and driving them away, police said.
The cars would be left abandoned on cinderblocks after being stripped of tires, stereos or valuables inside, including guns, police said. The stolen items would then be sold, some through online marketplace OfferUp. Jeeps and SUVs were among the vehicles most often targeted, police said.
Cooper Brown, chief of staff for the Oregon Transportation Commission, the state's top transportation decision-making body, sent an email July 3 notifying the five appointed members of the commission of “a recent indictment of a DMV employee who allegedly abused her position to commit fraud.”
Brown wrote that an internal investigation was underway, but he didn’t cite specific allegations of fraud.
“We wanted to make you aware of this evolving situation so you aren’t caught unaware if there’s media coverage,” he wrote. The email also went to ODOT executives and public relations officers.
Detectives have linked at least 100 car-related thefts to Fonseca since 2017 in Multnomah, Clackamas, Marion and Clark counties, Portland police said. He recorded some of the thefts on his cellphone, police said.
Investigators also have evidence of alleged bribes via text messages, police said.
Applegate and Fonseca were indicted Tuesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
Applegate faces charges of unauthorized use of a vehicle, bribe receiving, identity theft, attempted identity theft, computer crime and first-degree official misconduct. Fonseca faces charges of unauthorized use of a vehicle, unlawful entry into a motor vehicle, identity theft, first- and second-degree theft, second-degree criminal mischief, attempting to elude a police officer, reckless driving and reckless endangering.
Applegate was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center early Friday morning. Fonseca was arrested Wednesday in Woodburn, booked into the Marion County Jail and later transferred to the Multnomah County jail.
Both were out of custody as of Friday afternoon, jail records show.
Fonseca also faces similar charges in Clackamas County, court records show. He was arrested in that case in April and had been out on bail since May.
A Clackamas County prosecutor wrote that Fonseca was suspected of being involved in 74 cases of vehicle tampering between Jan. 1, 2018, and April 27, 2019, in Clackamas County alone.
According to a Multnomah County search warrant affidavit, Portland police spotted Fonseca removing the tires from a Ford F-150 in North Portland last November, but he fled with two of the pickup’s tires in a vehicle without license plates.
Then on Feb. 7, investigators viewed surveillance footage from Lloyd Center showing Fonseca taking the tires off a vehicle and fleeing, the affidavit said. He was arrested later that same day near Moda Center after officers patrolled the area on the ground and in a plane looking for him and saw him breaking into another car, the affidavit said.
He had a car jack, wireless drill and other items police suspected he was planning to use to remove tires, according the affidavit. The document describes several cases when Fonseca used rented vehicles, some with only dealer placards instead of license plates, when driving to his alleged targets.
Fonseca was facing accusations of unlawful entry into a motor vehicle, second-degree theft and second-degree criminal mischief after his February arrest, but prosecutors later dismissed the case.
The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office said Friday that a judge dismissed the case after denying a prosecutor’s motion requesting more time to prepare for trial in the case.
The accusations in that case are now part of the latest indictment, the district attorney’s office said.
— Everton Bailey Jr.
— Andrew Theen