Vacaville Traffic Stop Leads to Chop Shop, Stolen Vehicles, Meth in Nearby Residence
Police who pulled over a vehicle for expired registration tags discovered evidence of many other crimes.
About 8:20 pm, January 15, a Vacaville Police Department Crime Suppression Team detective noticed that the registration tags on a vehicle traveling along Regency Circle were not only expired but did not even match the vehicle.
Garrett (center) posing with members of the Napa-Solano Iron Riders motorcycle club.
Stopping the vehicle, the VPDCST detective discovered a small amount of methamphetamine and stolen motorcycle parts inside. The motorcycle’s frame had been cut in such a way that the vehicle identification numbers were removed; only the engine and part of the frame remained. Also, it turned out that the vehicle’s driver, Vincent Garrett, was on active probation. He had been arrested in March of 2014 for possession and transportation of a controlled substance, paraphernalia, and possessing stolen property.
The investigation continued over at Garrett’s residence, where police discovered extensive evidence of a “chop shop” in which various stolen vehicles were in the process of being broken up for parts–gas tanks, fenders, suspension parts, mufflers, frames and engines were scattered throughout Garrett’s garage.
Garrett’s home in Vacaville was being used as a chop shop.
Investigators also found a stolen motorcycle stripped of its accessories inside a stolen trailer, which was also filled with couches and trash. Another motorcycle, reported stolen in 2013, was recovered when parts found in the chop shop matched the photo on a stolen vehicle flyer the Vacaville Police Department generated at the time the motorcycle was reported stolen.
According to his Facebook profile, Garrett owns a business called the Tire Pirate.
Garrett, 51, of Vacaville was arrested on charges including possession of stolen vehicles, operating a “chop shop,” possession of methamphetamine, possession of stolen property, false vehicle registration tabs, driving on a suspended license. He is now lodged in Solano County Jail.
Records show that Garrett has been arrested at least seven times prior going back to June of 2010, when he was charged with possession and transportation of a controlled substance for sale, after he was involved in a motorcycle accident when he rear ended a moving car at high speed. He was badly injured in that incident.
That was followed by a February 2011 arrest for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, vehicle theft in April of 2012, and several other arrests on various drug charges.
