Vegas Undercover

Behind every car that's stolen, there is an all-too-real victim.

911 call:

Monique: Somebody just stole my car.

Monique: I was actually at work. I was working late. And I was in the office by myself.

23-year-old Monique was about to leave her office when a man approached her and asked to use the phone.

Monique: I was in the middle of asking him, "Oh, you need to use the phone?" whenever I looked up and saw the gun.

911 call:

Monique: He said give me your keys.

911 Operator: Are you okay?

Monique: Yes.

The man wanted her Cadillac, parked outside.

Monique: It was just unreal. You see this on TV and you never think it's gonna happen.

911 Operator: You want medical or anything?

Monique: No.

911 Operator: It's pretty scary, I know.

But the Las Vegas police know it happens all too often—

And they know when thieves steal cars or other items, it's more than likely they'll be looking for a place to sell the goods.

Lt. Dave Logue: Our shop is coming up on the right hand side.

So, the Las Vegas intelligence unit—run by Lt. Dave Logue—has rented this little shop. 

Chris Hanson: It's a fencing operation—

Undercover Officer: —it's a fencing operation—

Chris Hanson: —basically. Yeah.

Undercover Officer: Where you can bring—stolen, high-end—electronics, guns, vehicles—no questions asked.  And you'll get paid cash for it over the table.

Undercover detectives will pose as crooks who buy hot items. The shop is tucked away in an industrial area off the Vegas strip—and masquerades as a place that installs car audio systems. Everything in the storefront is a prop with a purpose.

Chris Hansen: Even things like this—the eight ball, the Rubik's cube. Why do you have these out here on the—on the countertop?

Undercover Officer: Everything in this office is pretty much wiped down after every deal— in order to gather information from fingerprints, if need be.           

Police have rigged the shop with hidden cameras, and we've been allowed to install some of our own.

Chris Hansen: There's a camera hidden here....There's one right up here. There’s another camera hidden right here.

Chris Hanson: How dangerous is it for you to do an investigation like this?

Undercover Officer: For the Undercover officers that are dealing directly at this counter—it's very dangerous.  Because—

Chris Hanson: I mean, you don't know who's gonna pull out a gun.

Undercover Officer: Absolutely.

While the undercover officers are out front, they are under constant surveillance from this back room.

Chris Hansen: So when one of the deals is going down, there are undercover officers right here, hands on their guns ready to pop out here in case something goes bad.

The word is out on the street that the owners of the so-called audio shop actually buy stolen goods....

Now it's time for the customers.

Undercover Officer #2: Come on in, sweetie.

Meet Cheryl Miller, also known as 'Chevy'—a 40-year-old mother of three. Today, she's selling a 2002 Ford Mustang.

Undercover Officer (on hidden camera): Is it in good shape?

Cheryl Miller, a.k.a. Chevy: Oh yeah, it's awesome.

She says a friend of hers reported the car stolen in order to collect the insurance.

Cheryl Miller: They um, turned it in for insurance or whatever...

Undercover Officer: They just wanted it to disappear.

Cheryl Miller: Yeah, exactly.

Another day, Chevy is back, and says she and some of her friends have guns.

Cheryl Miller: A uh, 12 gauge and a—and a 380...it's—they're rifles. 

Undercover Officer: They're all rifles? 308?

Cheryl Miller: Yeah, 308.

But she says her forte is forgery...making fake checks.

Cheryl Miller: I do big checks. Big money checks.

Undercover Officer: Okay.

Cheryl Miller: I've been doin' what I do for about 12 years.

Chevy's now a regular and begins to bring her friends to the shop.

The undercover officers are doing a bang up business...characters of all kinds come by

Undercover Officer: What's up bro?

This man has some large guns....

Undercover Officer: What we got? What we got?  This thing looks a little bit like a stiff body. 

(laugh)

Chris Woods: ... fires 357 shells.  And—30—338 special

Undercover Officer: Oh that's a 357?

Here comes Brittany...an unlikely looking suspect...

Undercover Officer: Where you from?

Brittany: Alaska...

Undercover officer: Alaska! Anchorage?

Brittany: Uhum.

Today she's come with a 2006 Dodge pickup truck. She says it was taken from a man she knows.

(laugh)

Brittany: Basically, I just robbed him. I just robbed his house or whatever.

She also says she's got guns: lots of them.

Brittany:  I have like six duffel bags full of them.

The officers working this operation are a tight-knit group of specially trained undercover detectives.

Chris Hansen: When you do one of these deals, it is not just another day at the office, is it?

Undercover Officer: It's never just another day at the office.

We've hidden their faces to protect their identities.

Chris Hansen: What do you want folks to know most about this case?

Undercover Officer: There are lots of unconventional ways that we're gonna go after these people. And we're doing everything we can to get em...and trying be creative and get these people off the street and put 'em in prison.

One thing these detectives were surprised about was how many women showed up.

Like Allison Hunt. A 43-year-old single mother. She’s here to sell this stolen Ford Thunderbird.

Undercover officer: Is the A/C broken in that ride, or what?

Allison Hunt: I don't know. I didn't touch anything, other than the padded steering wheel. I just shifted, and that's it.

She says she's selling the car for a friend and doesn’t know if it's been reported stolen yet.

Allison Hunt: I've been driving up and down Boulder Highway at night, in the day, and nothing has happened to me.

Allison also tells the undercover detectives she knows someone who can come up with a fake title for the car.

Allison Hunt:  I have a girlfriend that works down at one of the tow places.

Undercover detective: Uh-huh.

Allison Hunt:  And she does the titles. That's what she does, the titles for the towing. You know, so I was gonna get her to make a title for it cause she said she would.

They settle on a price: $200.

Allison Hunt: Yeah, that's fine. If you just handed me a dollar right now, I woulda taken it. 

Undercover Officer: Kyle? Nice to meet you

This is Kyle Kennedy. He and a friend have come in to sell a stolen SUV. The officers make him feel right at home. Soon he reveals he's just become a father.

Undercover Officer: So, dude, you got a baby, huh?

Kyle Kennedy: Yeah.

Not your average family man.

Kyle Kennedy: I think I would've kicked her to the curb a long time ago if it weren't for the kid, you know?

Soon, they get down to business and settle on a price.

Undercover Officer: All right, well let's just do $550.

$550 dollars for a car worth $25,000. Kyle and his friend leave with the cash.

Like most of the suspects who will visit the store, police let Kyle walk—that's so they don't blow their cover. 

The plan is to arrest all the suspects once the operation has ended.

Kyle comes in for second time.

Two weeks later, Kyle is back with a Cadillac...

And now, he's bragging to the officers about how he stole it using a weapon.

Kyle Kennedy: I more or less took it. Like strong armed with a gun.

And whose car is it.

Monique: And he said, "I'm gonna need your keys."

It’s Monique's—remember, she was the one robbed at gunpoint.  Now that police know Kyle is violent, they can't let him walk.

Lt. Bob Duvall: This person has to be removed from the street as quickly as possible.

But the trick is to not tip him off that the storefront is really a police operation. Lt. Bobby Duvall handles the arrest.

Lt. Duvall: The operation tonight is to safely take him into custody and then get him in jail.

They're not going to tell Kyle he was caught in a sting—they come up with another excuse.

They pull him over and tell him his victim picked him out of a photo lineup.

Video   Suspect caught making fake money Watch this man give new meaning to the phrase "laundering money" when NBC’s Chris Hansen goes along with undercover police officers. Dateline NBC

So he still has no idea...how he was really caught.

Kyle Kennedy: Can I ask what's going on, or...?

Kyle, who is serving a prison term on other charges, has yet to enter a plea in connection with his alleged storefront crimes.

Chris Hansen: Police ultimately caught this guy?

Monique: Yes.

Chris Hansen: How did that feel?

Monique: It was incredible. Before this I thought that officers didn't really do anything. They just drive around...

Turns out in Vegas, police do a lot...

Man: It's just all about negotiation...

Undercover detectives are everywhere. And it isn't only car thieves they're after.

Lt. Karen Hughes: Her target audience, is gonna be a pimp.

Chris Hansen: A pimp.

Undercover Officer: Hi honey.

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