Court Documents Allege How Police Nabbed a Tow Truck Driver Who Converted Stolen Cars to Cash

The Portland Police Bureau’s investigation began with a tip that came in last November: A man reported that his 1993 Buick had disappeared. There was an AirTag inside, and it was pinging from Rivergate Scrap Metal, a North Portland scrapyard.

By the time police were able to contact the business, the Buick was crushed. A tow truck driver from Maters Auto Recycling had sold the scrapyard the Buick, providing fraudulent paperwork saying the car had been purchased at auction, prosecutors say in a probable cause affidavit filed today in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

Investigators reviewed Rivergate’s paperwork and identified 80 vehicles sold by Maters Auto Recycling to Rivergate for a total of $29,000—and that Rivergate had done little to no due diligence to ensure they weren’t stolen. All were subsequently crushed.

The idea of scrapping stolen cars for cash is not new. Nearly a decade ago, prosecutors indicted 34 people involved in a massive auto theft ring operating out of a pair of North Portland scrapyards, and charged the leaders with racketeering. More recently, in 2022 detectives busted a Lake Oswego man and accused him of operating a catalytic-converter theft ring that made millions by trafficking stolen car parts to an East Coast metal refinery.

In this case, police used Rivergate records to trace several of the stolen cars back to their owners, who confirmed they had been reported stolen, sometimes the same day they were crushed. In many cases, the vehicle identification numbers supplied by Rivergate to police were invalid or for “ghost cars” that the DMV was unable to locate.

In one case, the VIN recorded by Rivergate matched a Chevy Metro that was still sitting in its owner’s driveway, evidence “that Rivergate employees were not actually checking and matching the VINs on vehicles that they were purchasing,” prosecutors say. In other words, police say, Maters Auto Recycling had delivered the cars to Rivergate, provided false VINs, and Rivergate hadn’t checked them against the VINs in the vehicles.

“Rivergate Scrap Metal complies with all laws and adheres to industry guidelines in all aspects of its metal recycling businesses,” the company said in a statement emailed to WW.

“Rivergate Scrap Metal processes more than 20,000 vehicles each year. While the five vehicles identified by the DA’s office as stolen represent one quarter of one percent of the vehicles we process in a year, we are taking this matter seriously and are carefully reviewing what happened. As soon as we learned a stolen vehicle had been presented to us, we immediately began a review and engaged with the DA’s office to aid in its investigation,” the statement continued, in part.

Three of the stolen vehicles were traced back to Joseph Beard, 53, who has several open cases for auto theft in Multnomah County. The signature on the fraudulent paperwork, prosecutors say, was that of his brother, who is listed as a co-owner of Maters Auto Recycling in registration paperwork filed with the state in 2021.

“Apparently, Joseph Beard and others were aware that Rivergate was not appropriately checking VINs for vehicles Rivergate purchased,” prosecutors noted.

In December, a “significant break” came in the investigation, dubbed “Operation MistleTow,” when a 79-year-old woman actually watched Beard steal her car, according to a police press release. She followed Beard’s truck after he towed away her legally-parked car, eventually boxing it in. Beard promised to tow the car back to her apartment and then fled, prosecutors say.

Witnesses picked Beard out of a photo lineup, and a warrant was issued for him on Dec. 22. He was arrested driving his tow truck on Jan. 5 and charged with 22 felonies. He is currently being held in jail.