Ontario men charged with selling stolen cars through dealership (2025)

• Two men from southern Ontario are facing 176 charges involving the sale of stolen cars
  
• Toronto police allege the pair moved roughly 22 cars using their employer, a legitimate dealership, as cover
  
• The whole scam, reportedly based around swapped-out VINs, was worth almost $2 million

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In this latest episode of Dealers Behaving Badly, we find a pair of men from Ontario staring down the barrel of 176 charges in relation to a scheme resulting in alleged fraudulent and criminal activities worth approximately $2,188,000. According to the Toronto Police Service, Harris Bocknek and Fadi Zeto, both of southern Ontario and both in their mid-30s, allegedly orchestrated an elaborate con in which they sold stolen vehicles using money belonging to the dealerships at which they worked.

The whole affair was the target of an investigation called “Project Warden.” Toronto police uploaded a recording of the press conference announcing these charges to their YouTube.

Police say the two suspects were employed at a Toronto car dealership and allegedly used their positions to acquire and then sell stolen vehicles to unwitting customers through the pretext of them being legitimate used-car sales. Somehow, the cars would purchased with dealership funds from numbered companies, some of which were owned by the accused. Zeto and Bocknek would apparently create fake-news sales agreements using VINs from other vehicles, even going so far as to alter Carfax reports.

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It seems the stolen vehicle would then be delivered to a buyer but, unbeknownst to them, the VIN they received did not match the car that they had purchased from the accused. There’s a lesson there in fully reading all the paperwork, folks. A few of the machines were also falsely registered to individuals not listed on the sales documents. It is said the dealership became suspicious and contacted the authorities, leading to these charges.

While the makes and models of the vehicles involved were not mentioned, the cops say 22 fraudulent sales were conducted. Basic math suggests each of the cars were worth north of six figures, though it isn’t instantly clear if the financial amount touted by the constabulary includes some other reparations like fees or interest of some sort.

There may be more to this story than is presently revealed. “The goal of Project Warden was to locate and arrest individuals responsible for trafficking stolen vehicles within the City of Toronto,” said Detective Dan Kraehling from 53 Division. “We do believe there are more victims.”