Toronto man facing 101 charges in connection with alleged auto-fraud

Police say a Toronto man is facing 101 charges in connection with an auto-fraud investigation.

In a news release issued Saturday morning, Toronto police said it received information in July about a man committing what investigators described as “fraudulent” vehicle transfers at ServiceOntario locations.

Police said ServiceOntario assisted investigators, and it was found that the man was allegedly responsible for numerous vehicle-related frauds dating back to November 2023.

A search warrant was executed on Aug. 9 and Winkle Lejarde, 43, of Toronto, was arrested as a result, police said.

He’s facing 101 charges, including 15 counts of uttering forged documents, nine counts of fraud over $5,000, and nine counts of alter or remove a vehicle identification number.

Police believe there may be more victims and released an image of Lejarde as they announced his arrest.

“In order to protect against purchasing a stolen/re-vinned vehicle, it is recommended to always purchase and review a vehicle history report,” police said in a news release.

Re-vinning is defined by Toronto police as changing a vehicle's identification number to a fabricated one for the purpose of concealing that a vehicle is stolen.

When buying a vehicle, police said a car may have been re-vinned if there are “sudden” colour changes to the car itself on the vehicle history report. Other red flags include if the odometer mileage went down between owners or if there are indications that the vehicle was previously exported with no import certificate back to Canada.