UPDATE: Indian Trail Home Raided by Feds

UPDATE: We have learned that the motive for Thursday's search was related to a money-laundering / fraud scheme involving counterfeit airbags. Agents seized more than 1,600 counterfeit airbags, which authorities say there is a huge illegal market for.


Included in the swarm of agents were agents with Homeland Security. The raid is the culmination of an investigation across Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina.

Igor Borodin, 26, was apprehended by Homeland Security. Reports say Borodin kept a secret room which contained fake car parts. He had just lived in the home 2 - 3 months.

Firearm by Felons Gets Guns Off Charlotte Streets

In an effort to keep our city's streets as safe as possible, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police recently launched the Firearm by Felon program. Started in May of this year, the program targets convicted felons in possession of firearms. Firearm by Felon offers reward money for anonymous tips that lead to the recovery of illegal guns or the arrest of a felons with guns.

The program comes after statistics showed a rise in the number of felons arrested with guns.  In 2009 250 convicted felons were arrested with guns, as opposed to 319 last year. The ease with which felons can access firearms was disturbing to the department.  The theory is getting guns off the street will result in fewer armed robberies and other crimes associated with firearms, according to CMPD's Marty Cuthberson. 

Since the start of Firearm by Felon in May, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police have recovered 12 guns and made seven arrests. By allowing members of the community to call in and work together with local law enforcement, Charlotte is a safer place to live.

The Firearm by Felon tip line is (704) 336-6000. Rewards of up to $500 are offered for information that leads to an arrest or recovery of guns.

DEA: Man Busted Possessing Drugs & Selling Chemicals to Make Methamphetamine

Raumeen Shiraz was arrested by DEA agents on July 13th after agents investigated him for months as he sold them meth making chemicals illegally over the internet.  He was also found in possession of methamphetamine at a storage unit he was seen using.

Shiraz was arrested last Friday at his father’s home on Robinhood Road, which is in the Cotswold area of Charlotte.  Law enforcement agents seized a 100-pound container of iodine from the home, which is one of several chemicals used to make methamphetamine.

At a storage unit on Park Road, authorities found a plastic bag with 315 grams of the drug, a hotplate plugged into a light fixture, several other chemicals and four guns in a black trash bag.  The storage unit was registered under the name Clarence Boddicker-- who is the name of the villain in the 1980s movie “Robocop.”  The contact number was the Mecklenburg County Jail.

Earlier this year, undercover DEA agents bought iodine crystals from Shiraz on eBay and through www.shirazlabsupply.com.   Shiraz told FBI agents that he had obtained a new business license and was doing business as Shiraz Lab Supply, according to the complaint. He told the agents he did all his transactions on the computer and made between $80,000 and $90,000 a year shipping chemicals domestically and internationally.  Shiraz is not authorized to ship the chemicals.  Raumeen Shiraz is listed as a contact person for a business called “Reagents for Chemicals,” which sells wholesale chemicals on the Internet.

In May, FBI agents began following Shiraz. They saw him mail packages from a post office near his home.  Agents also followed him to a storage unit.  After leaving, agents say, he engaged “in a series of what appeared to be counter-surveillance maneuvers.”    Obviously not good enough...

Two Union County Men Busted by Feds for Several Diamond Heists Across USA

The FBI has busted a multi-state diamond theft ring and have brought down an enterprise that included at least seven people-- including two Union County, NC men:  Trey Smith Adams, 27, of Indian Trail and Victor James Lupis, 25, of Monroe.  Since its inception, the theft ring has made off with more than $1.4 million dollars in diamonds and other gems from various jewelers across the country.

Trey Adams

The federal indictment describes seven thefts between December 2010 and January 2011 from jewelry stores in Portland, Oregon, Lake Oswego, OR, Grants Pass, OR, Kentucky, San Mateo, CA and Palo Alto, CA, Tennessee, Vero Beach, FL, Tampa, FL, and Nevada.  The group became so brazen, members of the team struck twice in a single day in northern California.

To plan for the heists, the FBI said a the group planned in advance including sending a well-dressed man and woman into a jewelry store and pretend to shop for a diamond ring and look for a specific employee to target.  The culprits would even sometimes ask the store to order larger diamonds for their return visit when they grabbed the gems.

The suspects would return on a planned date, execute their plan and take off with valuable gems and run to a getaway car.  Afterward, the diamonds were sold to a jeweler in Philadelphia, PA and the proceeds were distributed among the participants. 

Victor Lupis

Victor Lupis was identified as a suspect in a December theft in Portland, Oregon., after police received a tip. Authorities said Lupis had entered a jewelry store, posing as a customer as he examined two rings. Lupis grabbed the rings and fled.  The rings he stole had a retail value of more than $147,000.

After Victor Lupis was arrested on charges of aggravated theft in April and confessed to that crime, he confessed to at least five other diamond heists he committed or participated in with several other suspects, whom he named as:  Michael Young, 39, of Davenport Florida; Ernest Remor, 36, of Spring Hill, Florida; Trey Adams, 27, of Charlotte, North Carolina;  Victor Lupis, 25, of Monroe, North Carolina,  and Jack Cannon, 25, of Madison, Georgia.

Trey Adams has been arrested several times in Mecklenburg County, however, his charges are mainly traffic related and one assault charge.  Victor Lupis has several arrests as well with various charges of assault, selling marijuana, etc. and maintaining a dwelling to sell drugs.