When we think of modern car theft, we usually picture shattered glass in the dead of night or high-tech thieves cloning key fobs in a driveway. But sometimes, the most devastating automotive heists are pulled off in broad daylight using nothing more than a clipboard, a stolen identity, and an incredible amount of sheer audacity.
After a multi-year investigation, authorities in Washington state have finally dismantled a massive organized auto-theft ring. On Tuesday, March 10, 2026, police officially arrested Zachery Gene Diluzio, the accused mastermind behind a highly elaborate fraud scheme that drained a local auto auction of 22 vehicles.
The string of thefts began back in early October 2024 at Kaman Auctions in Edmonds, Washington. According to newly released court documents, Diluzio allegedly hijacked the business credentials of a real Pierce County dealership to submit a fraudulent application to the auction house. Unaware of the identity theft, the auction approved the fake dealership account and handed the scammers an $80,000 purchasing limit.
The crew wasted absolutely no time putting that fake credit line to work. On October 10, the fraudulent account aggressively bid on and won 18 different vehicles, racking up a total bill of $72,295.
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Later that exact same afternoon, an unidentified runner showed up at the Edmonds auction lot and casually handed the front desk a physical check for $60,000. With the ‘payment’ secured, the crew immediately began driving the freshly won vehicles off the property. The next day, they dropped off a second check to cover the remaining $12,295 balance and continued moving the stolen inventory away until the final car was removed on October 14.
Then, the bottom fell out. On October 15, the auction owner received a nightmare call from the bank: the $60,000 check had bounced for insufficient funds, and the $12,295 check was a complete forgery.
To add incredible insult to injury, on the exact same day the auction lot realized they had been scammed out of 18 cars, thieves physically stole four additional vehicles directly out of the business’s front parking lot.
How Were The Stolen Cars Tracked Down?
Detectives spent the late months of 2024 and early 2025 tracking the missing cars. Following a trail of fake license plates and faked paperwork, Seattle Police eventually traced the ring to the Sand Point area. Authorities managed to recover several of the stolen cars, including a 2011 BMW X5, a 2008 Mercedes-Benz GL, a 2016 Honda Civic, and a 2006 Nissan Frontier.
By late October 2025, prosecutors finally had enough evidence to file probable cause charges against Diluzio. Now, sitting in the Snohomish County Jail as of March 2026, he faces a substantial list of felony charges, including organized crime, motor vehicle theft, identity theft, criminal impersonation, forgery, and the unlawful production of financial fraud instruments.
