BALTIMORE (AP) — A man who pleaded guilty to a role in a plot to ship stolen vehicles to west African countries has been sentenced to 21 months in prison.
Fifty-three-year-old Eric Olaniyan of Laurel was also ordered to pay $65,000 in restitution at sentencing Monday in federal court in Baltimore. Prosecutors say Olaniyan, a citizen of Nigeria who is in the United States illegally, will face deportation proceedings after he completes his sentence.
According to his plea agreement, Olaniyan and others hired people to steal cars, then stored then on parking lots before arranging to put the vehicles in shipping containers at the Port of Baltimore.
The vehicles were then shipped to buyers in Africa.
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