Southwest
Holiday travel warning: $5M worth of cars stolen from major US airport by organized theft ring, report says
An organized theft ring with at least 14 members nationwide is accused of stealing nearly $5 million worth of vehicles from the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport between 2023 and November 2024, according to a search warrant obtained by local news.
“Approximately 14 suspects have been identified…the suspects in this group have stolen approximately 52 cars from DFW, for a total loss of $4.9 million,” officials said in the affidavit obtained by NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth.
The DFW Airport told Fox News Digital in a statement that “airport police have recently made significant arrests that have disrupted organized crime rings and greatly reduced reported car thefts at DFW.”
“In 2023 there were a total of 142 vehicle thefts reported in the terminal areas at DFW. Through November 2024 there were only 60 cars reported stolen, which is a reduction of nearly 58% year-over-year,” a DFW Airport spokesperson said in a statement. “Police are generally seeing thieves target high-end muscle cars and luxury SUVs. As has been reported extensively, auto theft is an unfortunate national issue that airports and other public facilities across the country are confronting.”
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Travelers wait to go through security at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in San Francisco, California, US, on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) anticipated screening 40 million passengers this holiday season. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg)
The number of car thefts over the last year at DFW is low compared to the 3.4 million vehicles that are parked at the airport every year, the DFW spokesperson added.
“From my time as a U.S. Army Special Forces Green Beret, I’ve seen that organized theft rings use many of the same tactics as transnational crime networks or terrorist cells,” Eric Brown, founder and CEO of Imperio Consulting and a 24-year Green Beret veteran and security expert, told Fox News Digital. “They look for easy targets, focusing on weak security measures and predictable routines. The key for travelers is to avoid making your vehicle a soft target.”
“Park in a well-lit spot, lock your doors, remove valuables or keep them out of sight, and make sure any alarm or tracking system is active.”
The ring has allegedly targeted airports across the West, including Texas, New Mexico, Utah and Nevada.
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A traveler holds a cat in a carrier at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) in Atlanta, Georgia, US, on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg)
Alleged ring leader Yoel Hernandez-Frometa, 37, used “Autel devices,” which are auto diagnostic tools, “to reprogram key fobs so he can steal vehicles,” the affidavit said, according to NBC 5.
Gene Petrino, co-owner of Survival Response LLC and a retired SWAT commander, told Fox News Digital that it’s common for organized theft rings to use Autel tools “to reprogram key fobs and bypass modern security systems.” They often target “vehicles based on their market demand or resale value,” he added.
“These devices, designed for legitimate locksmiths and mechanics, can be misused to mimic or reset vehicle keys,” Petrino said.
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Hernandez-Frometa and two others, including 30-year-old Jose Alejandro Pavon-Estopian and 29-year-old Vainer Pinollotoro, were arrested in Salt Lake City, Utah, in July on charges of possession of a stolen vehicle, fleeing in a vehicle, failing to stop at the command of police, and possession of burglary tools.
The three suspects were allegedly caught looking into vehicles at the Salt Lake City airport, and when police caught up with them and attempted to conduct a traffic stop, they fled.
Travelers at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in San Francisco, California, US, on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) anticipated screening 40 million passengers this holiday season. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg)
Authorities eventually located and detained the suspects with help from multiple law enforcement divisions. During their investigation, they recovered one of the suspect’s backpacks, which was “full of blank car key fobs.”
Officers also found keycards to a nearby motel and obtained a search warrant for the motel. With help from the Salt Lake City Police Department’s SWAT team clearing the suspects’ room, officers “found more evidence of a coordinated stolen car operation,” including a “laptop, other hardware used to communicate electronic signals, and a device used to program key fobs inside the stolen car the suspects bailed from,” police said at the time.
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The Salt Lake City Police Department noted that the three men had no ties to the city.
An Iberia Airlines plane soars over the parking lot at Los Angeles International Airport. (iStock)
It is unclear if any of the additional 11 suspects involved in the theft ring have been arrested.
“These groups often divide tasks among different teams. One crew scouts parking lots, noting high-value vehicles and passing that intel to the thieves. A separate group handles fake paperwork and arranges storage or resale. This setup keeps them flexible and difficult to track,” Brown explained.
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Petrino similarly said members of a theft ring “have specific roles: some handle scouting, others manage the technical aspects of reprogramming, and others handle transportation and resale of stolen vehicles.”
They also operate “in multiple jurisdictions,” Petrino explained, “making them harder to track and prosecute.”
Aerial view of vehicles at a parking lot on Aug. 26, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. ( Qian Weizhong/VCG via)
Because these organized theft rings operate across state lines, expert coordination is needed among law enforcement entities to track down suspects, he added. On top of that, police departments “often lack the resources to dedicate to complex, multi-state investigations, especially if the thefts are part of a larger criminal enterprise,” Petrino said.
Brown similarly explained that to combat these theft rings, like targeting bigger threats, local, state and federal authorities need to join forces.
“This collaboration helps tie all the pieces together and disrupt the entire theft network. It’s not an easy task, but with persistent teamwork and resource sharing, law enforcement can weaken these rings and protect travelers,” the former Green Beret said.
The case is under investigation. The FBI’s Dallas Field Office is aware of the theft ring and is assisting DFW Airport Police with their investigation, the Bureau told Fox News Digital.
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Southwest
Savannah Guthrie spotted in NYC as search for missing mother enters sixth week with few answers
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TUCSON, Ariz. — “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie is back in New York City as the search for her missing mother enters its sixth week with little publicly known progress in her hometown of Tucson, Arizona.
Guthrie was photographed in public for the first time since her mother’s suspected abduction, alongside husband Mike Feldman and their young son in the Big Apple Sunday, days after an emotional reunion with her NBC colleagues and more than a month after her 84-year-old mother Nancy was last seen.
Nancy’s disappearance shocked the country — especially when the FBI released disturbing surveillance video of a masked man on her doorstep.
Savannah Guthrie spent weeks in Tucson with her siblings as the investigation played out — before she and her older sister, Annie, added bouquets of yellow flowers to a growing display at the foot of their mother’s driveway. She quietly flew home to New York last week.
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Savannah Guthrie is seen out in New York with her husband Michael Feldman as the “Today” show anchor makes her first public appearance more than five weeks after the suspected abduction of her mother, Nancy Guthrie. (ASPN / BACKGRID)
Sunday marked five weeks since the suspected kidnapping.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department is leading the investigation, which is now being overseen by a task force consisting of local detectives and FBI agents.
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Savannah Guthrie visits the Today show at Rockefeller Plaza in New York on Thursday, March 5, 2026. (Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
No suspects have been publicly identified.
A masked man who appeared on Nancy Guthrie’s Nest doorbell camera around the time authorities said she was taken is described as being of average height and build and carrying a black Ozark Trail backpack.
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Savannah Guthrie and her mother, Nancy Guthrie, are pictured Thursday, June 15, 2023. (Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)
He appeared to be armed with a handgun as well. Law enforcement sources said he visited Nancy Guthrie’s home at least once in advance of her disappearance, wearing a similar disguise.
Other identifying details are scarce.
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The use of cadaver dogs is also on hold, according to authorities, who re-canvassed Nancy Guthrie’s neighborhood as recently as last week.
When asked if that meant they believed she is still alive, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos declined to discuss evidence in the case.
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“Anything is possible,” he told Fox News Digital.
Authorities have said they won’t consider the case cold until they run out of viable leads to follow up on — and tens of thousands have come in so far.
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There’s a reward of more than $1.2 million in play for information that leads to Nancy’s recovery.
Savannah Guthrie has asked anyone with information to dial 1-800-CALL-FBI.
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Southwest
FBI subpoenas 2020 Arizona voting docs as federal push into election administration widens
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An Arizona state lawmaker revealed Monday that federal authorities subpoenaed him for records related to the 2020 election, marking the second publicly confirmed jurisdiction the Department of Justice is investigating over the matter.
Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen, a Republican, said in a social media post he received the subpoena for material related to the state Senate’s 2020 audit last week and complied with it.
“Late last week I received and complied with a federal grand jury subpoena for records relating to the Arizona State Senate’s 2020 audit of Maricopa County,” Petersen wrote. “The FBI has the records. Any other report is fake news.”
The request represents an expansion of a federal probe tied to 2020 after the DOJ initially targeted Fulton County, Georgia. The development also comes as President Donald Trump has grown increasingly outspoken about election security in the lead-up to the 2026 midterms, renewing his attention on disputes stemming from the last presidential race.
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An election worker removes a ballot from an envelope to count and inspect the pages inside the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center (MCTEC) on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona. (PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
Petersen made the revelation after President Donald Trump shared a Just the News report about the subpoena on Truth Social, writing, “Great!!! FBI secretly seizes election records from Arizona’s largest county as voting probe expands.”
Multiple U.S. officials confirmed the election probe to Fox News, saying the DOJ is looking at a large tranche of Arizona data from 2020 and 2024.
President Donald Trump listens during an event about the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex, Wednesday, March 4, 2026, in Washington. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo)
The White House directed Fox News Digital to the FBI on Monday when asked for comment. The FBI declined to comment.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, an elected Democrat, said the new investigation was based on claims that courts and state investigators have proven wrong.
“What the Trump administration appears to be pursuing now is not a legitimate law enforcement inquiry,” Mayes said in a statement. “It is the weaponization of federal law enforcement in service of crackpots and lies.”
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Attendees listen as Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) speaks at an “Only Citizens Vote” bus tour rally advocating passage of the SAVE Act at Upper Senate Park outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on Sept. 10, 2025. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
The subpoena comes as the president increasingly focuses on election security ahead of the 2026 midterms, telling Congress in a social media post on Sunday that he will not sign any legislation into law until it passes the SAVE America Act.
The bill’s primary purpose is to require voters nationwide to show physical identification to prove citizenship to vote in federal elections. The version of the bill Trump is pushing would also ban mail-in ballots except for the military and in other extenuating circumstances.
Maricopa, Arizona’s most populous county, was a hotbed for accusations of voter fraud in 2020. Fulton County, Georgia, faced similar accusations, with the DOJ launching a separate investigation into the 2020 election earlier this year.
Trump lost Arizona in 2020 by about 0.3 percentage points. The president refused to concede, and his legal team brought a series of lawsuits alleging vote-counting irregularities, but none were successful.
Fox News’ David Spunt and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.
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Southwest
Wisconsin man who fled Border Patrol checkpoint in stolen car killed after shootout in Texas, police say
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FIRST ON FOX: A Wisconsin man driving a stolen vehicle was killed Wednesday after he fled through a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint and led authorities on a vehicle chase and shootout in Texas.
The incident happened at around 10:30 a.m. at the Sierra Blanca checkpoint in the Big Bend Sector between El Paso and Van Horn, a remote area.
James Douglas McMillan, 33, of Greenfield, Wis., took off from the checkpoint after a Border Patrol drug K-9 alerted to the vehicle and agents directed McMillan to pull over for a secondary search, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.
A migrant walks through the Rio Grande as he crosses the U.S.-Mexico border, March 13, 2024, in El Paso, Texas. On Wednesday, a man was shot and killed by authorities near El Paso after fleeing through a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint. (John Moore/Getty Images)
During the car chase, McMillan opened fire out of his vehicle window at DPS troopers and other authorities from several law enforcement agencies and civilian vehicles, DPS said.
“As law enforcement returned fire, DPS Troopers performed a precision immobilization technique (PIT) maneuver and successfully stopped the suspect vehicle,” a DPS statement said.
McMillan barricaded himself in his vehicle and eventually pointed his weapon towards officers, prompting officers to open fire, authorities said.
He was shot and killed. No law enforcement officers or civilians were hurt.
Investigators determined McMillan was driving a vehicle reported stolen in Arizona. The shooting is being investigated by the Texas Rangers, with assistance from the FBI and USBP.
The shooting involved Border Patrol agents and DPS troopers. (Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP via Getty Images)
In January, a man suspected of smuggling illegal immigrants was shot by federal officers during a gunfire exchange in Arizona.
Patrick Gary Schlegel, 34, fled from authorities on foot and allegedly shot at a CBP helicopter and at agents, Heith Janke, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Phoenix Division, said at the time.
A U.S. Border Patrol officer watches a USBP helicopter. (Herika Martinez/AFP via Getty Images)
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Schlegal, a U.S. citizen from Arizona, underwent surgery and survived. No one else was harmed, authorities said.
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