A purple McLaren was recovered in an Irvine auto theft investigation.
A stolen purple McLaren was found during an investigation into an auto theft operation last week in Irvine.
The arrest of a 37-hear-old man Thursday in connection with the striking British sports car stemmed from what police described as a complex auto theft investigation. The operation involved purchasing stolen high-end cars and replacing the vehicle identification numbers (VIN) with fraudulent fake VINs.
The cars were then sold.
The suspect was stopped by officers Thursday when he was behind the wheel of a stolen Dodge Durango SRT, a powerful high-performance SUV, with an altered VIN plate, police said. The stolen McLaren was found at the man's residence in Woodbridge.
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Fraudulent VIN plates, license plates, checks and unregistered firearms were recovered during the investigation, police said.
