18 U.S.C. § 2322

Chop shops

Read at: OLRCuscode.house.gov CornellLII GovInfogovinfo.gov JustiaTitle 18 CasesGoogle Scholar
(a)In General.—(1)Unlawful action.—Any person who knowingly owns, operates, maintains, or controls a chop shop or conducts operations in a chop shop shall be punished by a fine under this title or by imprisonment for not more than 15 years, or both. If a conviction of a person under this paragraph is for a violation committed after the first conviction of such person under this paragraph, the maximum punishment shall be doubled with respect to any fine and imprisonment.(2)Injunctions.—The Attorney General shall, as appropriate, in the case of any person who violates paragraph (1), commence a civil action for permanent or temporary injunction to restrain such violation.(b)Definition.—For purposes of this section, the term “chop shop” means any building, lot, facility, or other structure or premise where one or more persons engage in receiving, concealing, destroying, disassembling, dismantling, reassembling, or storing any passenger motor vehicle or passenger motor vehicle part which has been unlawfully obtained in order to alter, counterfeit, deface, destroy, disguise, falsify, forge, obliterate, or remove the identity, including the vehicle identification number or derivative thereof, of such vehicle or vehicle part and to distribute, sell, or dispose of such vehicle or vehicle part in interstate or foreign commerce.(Added Pub. L. 102–519, title I, § 105(a), Oct. 25, 1992, 106 Stat. 3385.)
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 37 cases (4 in the last 5 years), 1994–2025 · leading case: United States v. Scotty Joe Uder, 98 F.3d 1039 (8th Cir. 1996).
United States v. Scotty Joe Uder, 98 F.3d 1039 (8th Cir. 1996). · cites it 7× “Scotty Joe Uder appeals from a final judgment entered in the United States District Court 1 for the Western District of Missouri, upon a jury verdict finding him guilty on one count of conducting operations in a chop shop, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2322 (a)(1). The district…”
United States v. Melvin Pinckney, & Fundador Cuevas, Also Known as Powerhouse, 85 F.3d 4 (2d Cir. 1996). · cites it 5× “Sifton, Chief Judge), Fundador Cuevas was convicted of: (1) operating a chop shop, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2322 ; and (2) conspiring to operate a chop shop, in violation of 18 U.”
United States v. Pescatore, 637 F.3d 128 (2d Cir. 2011). · cites it 3× “KEARSE, Circuit Judge: Defendant Michael Pescatore, who was convicted of operating chop shops in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2322 and 2, and of extortion offenses in violation of 18 U.”
United States v. Dorsey, 677 F.3d 944 (9th Cir. 2012). · cites it 2× “§ 371 , two counts of operating a chop shop in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2322 (a)(1) and (b), and seventeen counts of trafficking in motor vehicles in violation of 18 U.”
United States v. Nathan Wall (95-5007) & Donald Wall (95-5008), 92 F.3d 1444 (6th Cir. 1996). · cites it 3× “1996) (overturning conviction pursuant to “chop-shop” statute, 18 U.S.C. § 2322 , because the government failed to prove the jurisdictional element of the offense).”
United States v. Alex Elias, Also Known as Puff, Luis Otero, Also Known as Gardana, 285 F.3d 183 (2d Cir. 2002). “Particularly inapposite is Pinckney , which concerned a violation of the Anti Car Theft Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2322 . The jurisdictional premise of that statute requires the stolen vehicle or vehicle parts to be distributed, sold, or disposed of in interstate or foreign commerce.”
United States v. Robert A. Soy, Robert A. Soy v. United States, 454 F.3d 766 (7th Cir. 2006). · cites it 2× “1996), the court considered the interstate commerce requirement in the context of an alleged conspiracy, specifically a conspiracy to violate 18 U.S.C. § 2322 (b). The Second Circuit stated: One of the elements of the substantive crime of operating a chop shop is that the…”
United States v. Bobby Fillmore, 889 F.3d 249 (5th Cir. 2018). “See 18 U.S.C. § 2322 (b). Although Fillmore admitted to stealing only a single motorcycle in the factual basis for his plea, the presentence report ("PSR") nonetheless described how over the course of two years, he stole a number of motorcycles throughout Texas and then…”
United States v. Lavandris Johnson, 56 F.3d 947 (8th Cir. 1995). “A § 2322 (criminalizing the operations of a “chop shop,” specifically defined as a place where persons engage in concealing and dismantling any stolen “passenger motor vehicle or passenger motor vehicle part”). Congress specifically acknowledged a distinction between a motor…”
United States v. Ronald B. Evans, 27 F.3d 1219 (7th Cir. 1994). “Count 1 charged Evans with operating, maintaining, and controlling a chop shop in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2322 . Counts 2 and 3 charged Evans with receiving, possessing, concealing, and storing a motor vehicle that had crossed the state line after being stolen, in violation of…”
United States v. James Dale Miller, 56 F.3d 719 (6th Cir. 1995). “Defendant, having pled guilty to conspiracy to operate a chop shop in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2322 and related vehicle crimes in violation of 18 U.”
United States v. Tommy Asher, 178 F.3d 486 (7th Cir. 1999). “Asher, along with 15 other defendants, was initially charged in count one with vehicle theft conspiracy and other substantive crimes relating to the theft of vehicle 111.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.