A prolific car thief was sentenced to ten years in prison and had his driver’s license revoked for life after he stole and stripped more than 100 vehicles with the help of his DMV worker girlfriend.
Israel Fonseca, 39, would steal the cars, gut them for parts – taking everything from GPS systems to guns stored in glove compartments – and abandon them throughout the streets of Oregon’s Multnomah, Clackamas, Marion and Clark counties.
He targeted vehicles in movie theatre parking lots, outside malls or parked by the Moda Center sports arena in Portland.
Owners would return to the parking lot after their events only to find their car missing or, in some instances, propped up on cinderblocks, The Oregonian reported.
His girlfriend, Valerie Applegate, 40, allegedly helped Fonseca with his schemes by running license plates and vehicles identification numbers on cars that caught his interest through the DMV database. She would also look up owner information and provide it to her boyfriend.
Fonseca, nearly two weeks ago, pleaded guilty to more than three dozens charges related to the scheme. The deal essentially spared Applegate from jail time.
The DMV worker, who was faired in September 2020 after working for the agency for more than 10 years, pleaded guilty to bribery and other charges. She was sentenced to one night in jail and three years probation, as well as ordered to complete 160 hours of community service.
He would then sell the stolen car parts and other valuables on OfferUp. Authorities allege Fonseca would take any items of apparent value, noting that once he even stole a service dog that was inside a truck.
He was caught in February 2019 following a month-long investigation initiated after several people reported having their trucks and SUVs stolen or broken into outside popular businesses.
Probes were launched in two counties, before was caught in Portland on February 7, 2019 around 9.35pm.
A police plane tracked Fonseca after he parked a 2004 Chevy Tahoe near the intersection of North Dixon Avenue and Benton Street and was then seen lurking into windows of other parked cars before dipping into another pickup truck.
Investigators found several tools, a black hat, gloves and a flashlight at the scene., as well as a car stereo he had ripped from the Tahoe.
He was arrested and later released.
In April 2019, Fonseca was arrested again after a hit-and-run incident involving one of his former victims, Patrick Mintun.
Mintun saw a woman, assumed to be Applegate, driving a truck sporting custom bumpers that had been stolen from his wife’s car two years prior.
He reported the vehicle to police and followed it, pulled up beside the driver’s side window and asked the woman to pull over.
She alleged he was ‘scaring her’ and drove off, prompting Mintun to follow her.
All of a sudden, Mintun’s vehicle was rammed by an Audi that Fonseca was driving. The thief confronted Mintun, asking him why he was ‘harassing’ his fiancee, and then fled the scene on foot.
He was later arrested and hit with more than 20 charges of theft and unauthorized use of a vehicle. Fonseca posted bail the next month.
After the incident the thief went missing until he was arrested in Las Vegas in April 2021 and returned to Oregon.
On May 18, he accepted a plea agreement for 38 charges.
The plea included 18 counts of unauthorized use of a vehicle, two counts of aggravated theft, eight counts of first-degree theft, two counts of identity theft, two counts of criminal mischief, two counts of being a felon with a firearm and one counts of reckless endangerment.
Fonseca also pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, third-degree assault and criminal mischief in connection the hit-and-run involving Mintun.
‘These were difficult cases for both sides, but we are glad to have reached a resolution,’ his lawyer, Ruben Medina, said after the sentencing.
Applegate pleaded guilty to 11 charges on Monday including bribe receiving, first-degree official misconduct, four counts of felony computer crime, three counts of unauthorized use of a vehicle and two counts of identity theft.
At her sentencing, she told the judge through her tears: ‘I am immensely apologetic.