April 5, 2011
Priscilla Ress
Public Information Office

VOLUSIA COUNTY SHERIFF’S BUST TWO CHOP SHOPS IN TWO WEEKS

It’s like a game of dominoes. One chop shop falls and another is taken down in Volusia County.

Two weeks ago Volusia County Sheriff’s investigators busted a chop shop stealing and dismantling Hondas for their high performance engines, transmissions  and parts.

On Tuesday, a chop shop owner was busted for stealing and dismantling Ford trucks.

45-year-old Michael Savasta was arrested on a warrant a short way from his home at 1948 Vienna Ave. in Deltona.

He’s being been charged with operating a chop shop at 3950 U.S. Highway 17 in a seemingly vacant building in DeLand when seen from the front. But it’s what Sheriff’s investigators saw in the back that has Savasta behind bars.

The break in this case came when the owner of a DeLand car dealership got a tip that the Ford F350 stolen from his lot two weeks ago was parked behind the building in DeLand. That’s when an investigator from the Sheriff’s Office’s Auto Theft Unit went to the address and through an open gate he saw two stolen Ford trucks and vehicle parts strewn all over the backyard including: 11 Ford truck doors, five Ford truck hoods, seven Ford fenders and two Ford transmissions

After getting a search warrant, Sheriff’s investigators, along with investigators from the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office City County Auto Theft Bureau and the National Insurance Crime Bureau found more evidence Savasta was running a chop shop, including car parts from stolen vehicles from Volusia and outlying counties, vehicle parts which had their anti-theft labels stripped off, airbags and paperwork and signs from a tow company which Savasta owns.

Savasta is charged with three felonies: grand theft, dealing in stolen property, and the operation of a chop shop. Savasta is being held on $25,000 bond at the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach.