Montgomery Township Police Photo by James Short.
The defendant told police he bought the car for $800 two months ago, police allege.
A Philadelphia man has been accused of driving a Porsche with a fake registration that was reported stolen from Delaware.
Eliezer Alejandro Cruz, 31, of the 700 block of East Wyoming Avenue, was charged Sunday by Montgomery Township Police with felony receiving stolen property, misdemeanor altering/forging/counterfeiting a registration with fraudulent intent, and summary offenses of driving an unregistered vehicle and driving without a valid inspection, according to charging documents.
On Sunday, at 2:20 p.m., police were monitoring southbound Bethlehem Pike traffic near Five Points, when they saw a black 2008 Porsche SUV with a temporary registration, police said.
Officers began following the Porsche, allegedly driven by Cruz, and ran the Delaware temporary registration information, but nothing came back in the national database, police said.
Cruz was stopped in front of Ooka Japanese Restaurant at 764 Bethlehem Pike, police said. A run of the VIN number showed the car was reported stolen out of Wilmington, DE, according to the affidavit.
Cruz told police that he bought the Porsche in New Jersey for $800 two months ago, per the complaint.
He then allegedly told police he drove it from New Jersey to Philadelphia, where he obtained the temporary Delaware registration. Police said Cruz did not receive a title when he purchased the car.
Since the registration was fraudulent, therefore Cruz was driving an unregistered vehicle, police said. Furthermore, the car’s inspection had been expired since May 2020, per the complaint.
Cruz is free on $5,000 unsecured bail and has a preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Andrea Duffy on Jan. 7 at 11 a.m., per court records.
