Man Who Shipped Vehicles To Africa To Serve 7 Years In Prison

Columbia MD

20 August, 2021

3:13 PM

Description

COLUMBIA, MD — A 49-year-old Columbia resident has been sentenced in federal court to seven years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Asomah Maamah pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to commit interstate foreign transport of motor vehicles and knowingly transporting stolen vehicles. Maamah also was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $195,281.20. According to his plea agreement, Maamah participated in the theft and exportation of at least 17 vehicles worth approximately $863,653. The members of the conspiracy fraudulently stole the vehicles directly from victims and rental facilities. After the arrangement for sale, vehicles were loaded into shipping containers that would then be exported to foreign destinations, most commonly, Africa. As part of the scheme to defraud, Maamah facilitated the creation of fraudulent paperwork to present to customs officials which misrepresented the true contents of the shipping containers. In late 2018, Maamah was observed at the scene of a vehicle loading where a known stolen car was located. Maamah's paperwork for the shipment falsely listed "Tutu Seth" as the exporter and listed the vehicle as a Cadillac when, in reality, the vehicle was a Range Rover. On Jan. 15, 2019, Maamah was approached by Howard County Police and agents from the Homeland Security Investigations Border Enforcement Security Team after he arrived at a surveilled location. In an interview with law enforcement, Maamah denied any knowledge or involvement in the exportation of stolen vehicles. He also claimed that the company registered in his name had been used to ship vehicles without his permission and that he had not been involved with vehicle shipping for years. As stated in his plea agreement, a review of Maamah's personal email account revealed that Maamah arranged the shipment of stolen vehicles under the pseudonym "Tutu Seth" and often used his email to facilitate the creation of fraudulent paperwork. A review of Maamah's three cell phones revealed numerous photographs of stolen vehicles, including several stolen vehicles that were seized inside shipping containers. The phones also included messages relating to a recently interdicted container that contained two falsely declared stolen vehicles. Investigators also discovered a second email address that was used to communicate with a shipping company concerning the exportation of cars. Maamah was arrested pursuant to a federal criminal complaint on March 4, 2020. At the time of his arrest, Maamah was found inside a car that had been fraudulently rented and was over-due. Although Maamah initially denied any criminal conduct or knowledge of stolen vehicles, he ultimately admitted to law enforcement that an associate informed him the vehicles previously shipped to Africa were stolen and that he knew the titles of the vehicles within the shipping containers did not match the paperwork given to the truck driver or the shipping company.