A tow truck driver with Aurora-based Eagle Wing Towing has been arrested on suspicion of stealing at least 48 cars, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday.

Brian Chacon, 33, has been in police custody since Aug. 11 after the sheriff’s office investigated his activities, which involved taking vehicles he had no legal right to impound or possess and bringing them to salvage lots Eagle Wing was not approved to do business with to sell as salvage.

During the investigation detectives also found that Chacon possessed child pornography, the sheriff’s office said in a news release Friday. He was arrested in Denver after the Douglas County officials issued a warrant for his arrest in the case on Aug. 9.

Chacon is now being held at the county jail in Castle Rock on a $350,000 bond. Detectives are recommending charges including 48 counts of motor vehicle theft, five counts of possession of child pornography and dozens more counts of forgery and chop shop activities.

The investigation into Chacon dates back to December, according to the sheriff’s office.

Rather than taking cars to the one impound lot Eagle Wing Towing was approved to do business with, detectives determined Chacon was taking cars to U-Pull-&-Pay junkyard and salvage lots in Denver and Aurora to sell.

Investigators looked into 81 vehicles connected to Eagle Wing and Chacon and found that 48 of them were confirmed stolen. Another 29 of those vehicles may or may not have been stolen because the most recent owners could not be identified, according to the sheriff’s office.

“I am very proud of our patrol deputies and detectives’ work on this case,” Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly said in a statement. “This suspect was preying on people who trusted that their vehicles would still be in the locations where they left them, whether they were disabled or otherwise.”

Originally Published: August 30, 2024 at 4:53 p.m.