Insurance Auction: https://www.iaai.com/VehicleDetail/41760881~US
*Today's footage is Exemplary, of how invaluable ASP Troopers are on our Highways and Interstates. They do a LOT more than high speed pursuits. This also is how investigations are initiated and conducted.*
On Monday, December 9, 2024, at approximately 8:52 AM, I, Trooper First Class Middlecoff, was contacted by Blytheville Police Department SA who advised me that a car hauler at the Deerfield Inn in Blytheville was hauling a couple of vehicles that looked similar to some that have been the target of numerous thefts and altered VIN numbers.
I observed the car hauler on US 61 and noticed that it did not have a trailer tag and conducted a traffic stop at Love’s Truck Stop.
When I approached the driver side of the vehicle, I advised the driver, later identified as James Lenton, of who I was and why I was stopping him. While speaking with Lenton, I noticed his truck had white tape over the truck company, DOT number, and MC number with handwritten numbers over the tape. Lenton explained he was renting the truck due to his truck being in the shop. SA arrived shortly after I conducted the traffic stop and took a closer look at the vehicles in question.
It was at this time I asked Lenton for consent to enter the vehicles and look at the VIN numbers. Lenton willingly gave me and SA consent to look closer at the vehicles. SA advised he observed signs of tampering with the VIN on the blue Porsche and asked if we could remove the vehicles from the car hauler. Lenton complied and removed both the Porsche and Lamborghini off the car hauler. Again, SA began checking the vehicles hidden VIN numbers and discovered the Porsche’s VIN had been altered and the Lamborghini’s VIN had been completely removed.
As SA was looking over the vehicles, Lenton advised he picked the vehicles up from a man in Michigan and was transporting them to an undisclosed location in Texas.
SA then advised me to have both the Porsche and Lamborghini towed to the Blytheville Police Department for further investigation. SA was able to locate the true VIN on the Lamborghini and confirmed it to be stolen out of Sarasota Michigan.
After releasing the cars to the 2nd Judicial Drug Task Force SA, Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division arrived on scene to interview Lenton.