The Dallas Police Department made its first arrest in the ongoing investigation of Texas’s illegal paper car tags on Tuesday. Wayland Wayne Wright was arrested on May 3 during an undercover operation conducted by the Auto Theft Task Force.
The task force alleges that 43-year-old Wright was running a “paper tag mill.”
Dallas police searched Wright’s location on Sunnyvale Street on April 20, where they found $3,000 in cash in addition to fraudulent tags.
In a police statement, DPD alleged he “admitted to printing multiple fake and fraudulent paper tags.”
According to NBC 5, Dallas Police Lieutenant Julio Gonzalez stated Wright’s operation is believed to have sold around 200 illegal tags. An undercover officer allegedly purchased a tag from Wright that was determined to be fraudulent and had not come from the Texas DMV.
These illegal tags are often put on cars used to commit crimes, potentially in other states. Vehicles with these tags are called “ghost cars” as they are difficult for police to track.
“We have seen these fake and fraudulent paper tags … used in street racing, robberies, burglaries, stolen vehicles,” Lt. Gonzalez said. “So it’s very important that we go after those individuals that are defrauding the State of Texas.”
In recent months, criminals have begun obtaining Texas car dealer licenses to sell real tags illegally. However, according to Gonzalez, some have turned to creating and selling fake tags after recent DMV crackdowns.
“What we still are seeing are the completely fictitious and created paper tags,” the lieutenant said.
Dallas Chief of Police Eddie Garcia announced last month that officers would be working undercover to investigate counterfeit tags further. The Fort Worth Police Department announced a similar investigation in February.
On April 26, the House Transportation Committee held a hearing for Texas lawmakers to address these issues with the Texas DMV.
Before this first hearing, State Senator Paul Bettencourt said that he felt paper tags should be eliminated entirely, claiming the problem has become so widespread it would be the easiest and quickest solution.
Bettencourt felt the DMV took too long to respond to the problem.
“DMV, quite frankly, sat on their rear end,” he told NBC 5. “It did nothing about the problem.” He also noted that paper tags should be replaced with a more secure way to identify vehicles.
“We need to get out of the paper tag business because now, even if we close these dealers, a lot of these dealers are just inventing numbers and putting out false numbers,” Bettencourt said.
As of May 4, Wright was still in the Dallas County Jail and has been charged with intent to defraud and tamper with a governmental record. His bond is set at $15,000.