Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Prolific Car Thief Indicted After Allegedly Stealing 30 Cars In 75 Days
By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 1, 2012
Modified Dec 1, 2012
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 1, 2012
Modified Dec 1, 2012
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
A Bronx man who has been accused of stealing 30 cars in a 75-day period has been indicted in 26 of those cases. Reynaldo Nazario, 35, allegedly went on a car-stealing binge between August 2nd and October 23rd this year. Nazario's brother tells the Times that he has been obsessed with cars since he was a little kid: “My brother’s drug is cars,” he said. “He can’t stay away from them.”
Nazario's brother Frank said the obsession with keys and cars started when he'd grab a chair and pretend to drive the washing machine: “Nobody could sit in that chair,” Frank Nazario said. “He’d be in that chair for hours. He’d say, ‘You can’t drive my car.’” He described his brother's method to the Times: "He would pry the lock mechanism from the door of a car he wanted, take it home, file a blank key to fit the lock, and go help himself to the car, Frank said."
Lately, Frank has tried to reason with his little brother—who sounds a little like transit superfan/thief Darius McCollum—to stop, to no avail: “I’d tell him, ‘It’s not the ’80s anymore,’” Frank said. “‘Cops are on to you.’” He offered up another anecdote about when Nazario was helping a neighbor fix her car and he messed something up: “He said to the woman, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll get you another car.’” Nazario stole one in front of the building and gave it to the woman.
Nazario was caught after police figured out that he was taking many of the stolen vehicles and selling them to a scrap yard. He faces 26 counts of possessing stolen property, falsifying business records and felony grand larceny (the other four cases are still before a grand jury), which means he could face more than 100 years in prison from all the accumulated charges. Nazario, who has only been out of prison since May, has already served five stretches in state prison for various car-related crimes over the last decade, including over two years for an assault that involved him hitting several police officers with a stolen car.
Tagged
arrest
car thief
cars
nypd
prolific
Reynaldo Nazario
thief
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Floyd Bennet Field gets $10M for project to reopen historic hangars
The hangars at New York City’s first commercial airport haven't been open to the public for nearly 100 years.
By
Rosemary Misdary
Published Nov 3, 2026 at 1:43 p.m. ET
Trump administration sends election monitors to NYC, NJ
The administration had previously said it planned to send 1,000 monitors nationwide.
By
Catalina Gonella
News
Trump administration sends election monitors to NYC, NJ
The administration had previously said it planned to send 1,000 monitors nationwide.
By
Catalina Gonella
Child dies in raging Upstate New York measles outbreak
By
Caroline Lewis
Medicaid is changing. We want to hear from NYers about what's ahead.
By
Caroline Lewis
A typo. A missing screw. These are the small snags keeping NYC families in shelters.
By
Karen Yi
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .