Ohio Man Sentenced in Multi-State Car Theft Ring

The lead defendant in a $1.5 million chop shop conspiracy was sentenced in U.S. District Court last week to 84 months in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Ohio announced.

Kahrese Tracey Scott Lee, 28, of Cincinnati, pleaded guilty in July 2025 to conspiring to transport stolen vehicles in interstate commerce and to knowingly operating a chop shop.

According to court documents, between at least October 2023 and October 2024, Lee, who is also known as “Reese Lee” and “Bennett Jones,” knowingly worked with others to orchestrate an interstate stolen car ring. The defendant operated a garage in Dayton and received dozens of stolen vehicles. For example, during May 2024 alone, Lee’s Dayton chop shop housed within it more than half a million dollars in stolen cars and vehicle parts.

Lee allegedly often dissembled stolen vehicles and removed their parts for resale or for placement in another vehicle. He both received and traded or sold vehicles out of state.

On occasion, Lee allegedly also stole vehicles himself or worked with others to do so. During one planned theft incident, Lee and others traveled from Ohio to Indiana, where they stole three vehicles valued at more than $200,000 total from an auto lot.

Law enforcement discovered Lee and others in possession of the stolen vehicles in Alabama, where Lee planned to establish a new garage. Officers confiscated the cars and returned them to the Indiana dealership that owned them.

Lee and his accomplices allegedly had placed a tracking device on one of the stolen cars and tracked it back to Indiana. Lee traveled back to the Indiana dealership and attempted to steal the vehicle again; however, law enforcement apprehended him as he attempted to do so, law enforcement alleges.

Lee and six others were charged by a federal indictment in November 2024.