Towamencin Police. Photo by Tony Di Domizio.
Police allege Rysaan Kahfere Horsey knew the Jeep was stolen after VIN discrepancies, discovery of owner's mail
An 18-year-old Philadelphia man who claimed the stolen Jeep with a fraudulent registration he was a passenger in during a traffic stop was gifted to him by his father has been charged with felony receiving stolen property by Towamencin Police.
On July 30, at 10:12 p.m., police were on duty in a “ghost” patrol car and drove through the parking lot of Royal Farms at 1780 Sumneytown Pike. There, police saw a gray Jeep Cherokee with a temporary Pennsylvania registration parked in a spot in front of the building, police said.
Police knew the registration was fugazi, as the number began with a “4800” series, which has not yet been reached in the state, according to the complaint.
The Jeep’s driver left the parking lot onto westbound Sumneytown Pike, and police stopped the Jeep at the I-476 entrance, namely due to the broken passenger side headlight, according to the affidavit.
Police approached the Jeep and spoke with the driver and two passengers. When police told them they were displaying a fraudulent registration, one of the backseat passengers, identified as Rysaan Kahfere Horsey, of the 100 block of West Montgomery Avenue, told police it was his vehicle, police said.
Horsey gave police a pink temporary registration and a Progressive insurance card. Police said the paperwork had a matching Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) as the one on the car’s front windshield, which appeared altered.
A records check through the state DMV revealed the VIN came back to a 2016 Jeep Cherokee, which matched the paperwork provided by Horsey and the fraudulent temporary registration, police said.
Horsey gave police consent to search the Jeep to locate a secondary VIN, according to the complaint. The number was found to be unaltered and did not match the VIN on the windshield, police said.
Police said the Jeep’s last eight digits of the tire pressure sticker displayed the correct VIN as well.
A records check of the secondary VIN revealed the Jeep was stolen out of Trenton, NJ, police said.
Horsey told police his black Jeep key fob was the fob for the Jeep, and told police it was gifted to him by his father as a birthday gift, per the complaint.
Horsey admitted taking the Jeep to a mechanic, where he was told by them the Jeep was a 2019 model and not a 2016. During a search of the vehicle, police found mail belonging to the original owner of the Jeep in the back driver’s side rear seat compartment, police said.
“I believe based off the visual indicators of an altered VIN, being told by a mechanic the vehicle was a 2019, along with the victim’s documents still in the vehicle, Horsey knew or should have known the vehicle was stolen,” police alleged in the complaint.
Horsey is free on $5,000 unsecured bail ahead of an Oct. 22 preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Edward Levine.
He was also charged with a misdemeanor count of possessing, selling, using, or displaying altered, forged, or counterfeit vehicle-related documents.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
