CASTLE ROCK, Colo. (KDVR) A former tow truck driver who pleaded guilty to stealing nearly 50 vehicles was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

The 23rd Judicial District Attorney says the driver was preying on older, broken-down vehicles and then selling them before the owners knew they had been stolen.

Investigators say the tow truck driver would sell the vehicles at salvage yards in some cases for up to $500 each.

“But as you can imagine, these are individuals who perhaps have a lower income. It’s a broken-down car. They couldn’t tow it right away. They had to make other arrangements. And so, in most of these instances, he was preying on people to whom it would cause the most harm,” said 23rd Judicial District Chief Deputy District Attorney Jake Adkins.

The DA said Douglas County sheriff’s deputies spotted one of the stolen vehicles on a tow truck with a license plate reading camera.

The tow truck driver, Brian Chacon, was then linked to nearly 50 stolen vehicles in 2023 and 2024, the DA said.

The chief deputy district attorney says Chacon was able to quickly sell the vehicles he illegally towed.

“He would take those to a salvage yard and he was able to exploit loopholes in the PUC regulations that allowed him to sign that off as if it was his own vehicle. He would hurry and do it before the vehicle was reported stolen,” DA Chief Deputy Adkins said.

“The issue is that PUC regulations that govern tow truck drivers and salvage yards allow for some abuse. The tow truck driver is not required to provide title but merely sign a bill of sale representing that they own the vehicle they are selling to the salvage yard. And while the salvage yard is required to run the VIN to make sure the vehicle has not been reported stolen, they are only required to do so at the time of the “purchase” from the tow truck driver. A vehicle may then sit on the lot at a salvage yard for an extended period of time before being “parted out” and crushed. The salvage yard is not required to run the VIN a second time before destroying the vehicle. If the regulations had required them to do so, this defendant would not have been able to steal and scrap nearly as many vehicles as he did,” Adkins said in an email that was provided to FOX31 by the DA’s public information officer.

Court records show a GPS tracker was placed on Chacon’s tow truck, helping officers track him down.

“These detectives uncovered a large-scale, calculated criminal operation involving dozens of stolen vehicles,” said Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly.

Investigators then used Flock cameras to connect the tow truck to the stolen vehicles. 

One of the stolen vehicles, a minivan, belonged to Gina Matrious of Fort Lupton.

“It was honestly a domino effect. Not just for me. It affected my parents, the kids. They were not able to do a lot of activities. It kind of put our lives on hold,” Matrious said.

The judge in the case said Chacon was driven by greed during the sentencing on Monday afternoon.