Stay for the night, lose your car forever: Why these Ontario hotels are magnets for thieves - Toronto Star

The inside story of how 'Donald Trump,' 'Vladimir Putin' and 'Kim Jong Un' stalked a series of Toronto-area hotels for quick and easy car thefts. 

Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un are in a grey Jeep Grand Cherokee driving around hotel parking lots in the middle of a winter night, looking for cars to steal. They split up, each with their own ride, keeping in touch on the encrypted messaging app Signal.

“Do you guys wanna scout quickly?” Putin texts — each is using an assumed name with a distinctly political flair.

Trump fires back. “Do you want me in Burlington?”

Kim Jong Un says he’s hungry. “Just about to eat.”

Later, a decision. “I guess the blue one,” Putin decides. They converge on a Lexus SUV at Burlington’s Sandman Hotel.

Hotel parking lots near Pearson airport are frequent targets for auto thefts.

In the GTA and surrounding areas, a stay for one night can mean losing your car forever. The unsuspecting victims have checked in to a hotel, for a child’s soccer tournament, a business meeting at a nearby office, a family event, or to park their vehicle and take a taxi to the airport for a vacation. Hotel parking lots are a frequent target for auto theft, especially in close proximity to Pearson International Airport. Nine of the 50 most frequent locations for car thefts in Toronto are next to these airport hotels. Since 2020, police have reported more than 1,000 thefts at these locations alone — and that’s just Toronto.

The GTA’s hotels, including many others in Halton and Peel Regions, typically have large parking lots with guests coming and going at all hours, which makes it difficult for hotel security to police. In May, Halton Regional Police investigated 28 car thefts from hotels in Oakville and arrested two men believed to be responsible for some of them.

Detectives at GTA forces say hotel car thefts are a major problem and advise drivers to park close to a light post if possible, and install anti-theft devices on their cars.

In 2024, one investigation began when cars were disappearing from hotels in Peel and Halton. Police were stymied. Halton auto theft detectives took statements from hotel staff and angry car owners, who woke up at the hotel or returned from a trip to find their car gone. Police struggled to find a common clue. In cases caught on video, the rear window of a high-end vehicle was shattered. Thieves entered, spent about 30 minutes in the car, and then drove off in it. 

Then, in January 2025, a break. Detectives scouring hotel video noticed the same dark grey Jeep Grand Cherokee was spotted at several hotels when a theft was reported. An alert was put out. On Jan. 6, 2025, an officer spotted the Jeep parked on The East Mall in Etobicoke. The licence plate was fake. But the vehicle identification number visible under the windshield showed it had been stolen a few months back. When police were sure nobody was looking, an officer slid under the car and installed a tracking device. The hunt was on.

Police decided to build a case with multiple thefts. So they let the thieves keep working, a controversial move the Star has seen happen in other recent cases. Controversial because of the risk to public safety. What if one of the stolen cars got into an accident and someone died? Police decided to take the risk, and Project Mulligan was born, a golf reference because most times the stolen vehicle was driven to a parking lot at the Mississauga Golf and Country Club. There, they would remove the GPS tracking built into the car, then drive it to another location to “cool off” for a day or two, watching to see if police or an owner showed up to collect it.

Thieves case a hotel parking lot in this undated court handout photo.

As police watched the Jeep, they built a profile of its regular occupants. The driver, “Kim Jong Un”, was Luis Bello Reyes, a 29-year-old man on bail for car theft from a Mississauga hotel the year before. Amir Habibzai, 21, was “Vladimir Putin,” and he was on bail for the same case; they had been ordered not to communicate. A 39-year-old man was “Trump.” Another man, a 22-year-old, was “Crasher.”

Each night’s prowling began at a Shoppers Drug Mart on the East Mall, next door to the building where the Jeep was first spotted. Reyes arrived in the Jeep, the other men in their own vehicles, with one showing up routinely in his father’s old Mazda. When the men were away from their vehicles, police put trackers on them. Once the four men had finished their planning session, they left the Shoppers in the Jeep. Detectives who went through their Signal chat sessions determined that “Trump” and Habibzai (Putin) were the bosses, as they gave instructions to the other two men on “what hotels to canvas and what vehicles to steal.”

One of the suspects, photographed with the Jeep.

Their theft pattern showed an affinity for several models of vehicles — Toyota Highlanders, Dodge Durangos and two models of Lexus SUV. Occasionally, they would take a Dodge Ram or a Toyota Tundra. The model years were 2024, so most vehicles had low mileage.

Other makes are less popular, but sometimes worth the risk. In one Signal text chain, the group discusses how they will sometimes steal General Motors products. One thief explains that if they get their hands on a $100,000-plus Chevrolet Tahoe, it can be sold on the streets of Montreal “everday” for $15,000, netting the thief $3,000 as payment. Another weighs in, providing an explanation of how you can show up at a dealership, test-drive a Tahoe, clone the key fob while driving it, then steal it later. Not long after, the group stole a Tahoe and chatted about the potential sale with an unknown person on Signal with the handle, “Slimtakingover.” 

The first theft the group committed after the police tracker was installed on their stolen Jeep was on Jan. 9, 2025. Police monitored as the Jeep left Etobicoke and headed west to Oakville. It cruised around several hotels and stopped at the Fairfield Inn at 2 a.m. A white Toyota Grand Highlander owned by William Sparks was in the parking lot. The crew stole it, and the tracking data shows it was driven at 190 km/h along the QEW eastbound to the Mississauga golf club. The Jeep followed behind. CCTV from the golf club captured both vehicles entering the club property. An hour later, the Jeep drove to the Holiday Inn near Pearson Airport and Robert Vogel’s grey Toyota Tundra was stolen. 

CCTV from the golf club showed that when a stolen vehicle arrived, it pulled up beside a dumpster, and the men’s shadowy figures could be seen tossing out any personal contents belonging to the vehicle owner. In one video, a man can be seen using a hammer to destroy an Apple AirTag found in a suitcase left in the car for the owner’s upcoming trip.

Stills from CCTV footage show the Jeep and Toyota SUVs being driving to the Mississauga Golf and Country Club.

The four men used some commonly available devices as part of their theft spree, all discovered when police arrested and searched the men and their residences. First, the Stealth Licence Plate, an American product that retails for $90 (U.S.) It fits over a license plate and, with a Bluetooth connection to a person’s phone, can turn a readable plate unreadable. While car thieves use them, the kit is sold online as something that gives your car a “clean look” at an auto show. Police also found several “OBD star reprogramming devices,” also sold online for about $1,400 (U.S.) All modern cars have an “OBD” port, which stands for “on-board diagnostics.” The next time you are in your car, look under the dashboard, above your left leg. That is the “port” that your mechanic uses to diagnose what is wrong with an ailing vehicle. It can also be used to reprogram a blank key fob (police found one of the men with a “generic Trailhawk key fob”) into one that starts the car. One of the OBD devices police seized had in its memory the Vehicle Identification Numbers for 37 stolen vehicles.

On the low-tech side, police also discovered a “yellow glass breaker,” used to shatter the rear window of each stolen car. Police also found other blank key fobs in the men’s possessions. 

They also found a notepad listing “Short Term Goals.” It read: “Jam a few cars, sell them, part out (sell for parts) a few cars for myself.” It was found in one of the thieves’ bedside tables. 

Detectives at GTA forces say hotel car thefts are a major problem and advise drivers to park close to a light post if possible. Hotels near Pearson airport ar among the most targeted.

The men’s phones were a gold mine. Most times, the men photographed the cars they stole, even taking a few videos. Police were able to obtain GPS co-ordinates for the location where the video was taken — often the golf club. The Signal text chats showed both planning and a certain amount of excitement. One of the crew (Putin) texts to his group, “We r gonna attack soon. In 30.” In another situation, after being assigned to check out a Toyota Highlander, one of the crew reports he found “no tag” (meaning no AirTag came up when he scanned the vehicle).

Once the vehicles had cooled off and were deemed safe to move, they were taken to a parking lot on Sheppard Avenue East in Scarborough and loaded into a shipping container. That location came up in other cases the Star looked at. As far as the Star could determine, nobody from companies associated with the shipping has ever been charged. In some cases, police found the vehicles either en route to the Montreal port, or about to be loaded onto a cargo ship in the Montreal harbour.