Oregon State Police Arrest Former DMV Employee in Title Washing Scheme

Police say the man worked with others to falsely title cars that had been wrecked or totaled.

24-year Yevgeniy "Eugene" Zakharov of Vancouver, Washington Photo: Multnomah County Sheriff's Office

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - A nine-month long joint investigation by the Oregon State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation resulted in the arrest of a former Oregon DMV employee Friday morning after a sixteen count indictment was handed down by the Multnomah County Grand Jury against the employee and two other co-conspirators.

The investigation began after personnel at the suspect's DMV office became suspicious of some of his activity, began monitoring his transactions, and after realizing what was happening they immediately notified the Oregon State Police.

24-year Yevgeniy "Eugene" Zakharov of Vancouver, Washington turned himself into OSP Detectives and FBI Agents today and was lodged in the Multnomah County jail on multiple charges of Theft in the First Degree, Forgery in the First Degree, and Official Misconduct. The two co-conspirators, whose names are being withheld at this time, have not been arrested.

According to the Oregon State Police, Zakharov was a clerk at the North Halsey DMV office in Portland. While working there, he became involved in an automobile "Title Washing" scheme.

Zakharov allegedly would either purchase himself, or have purchased for him by others, wrecked or totaled out-of-state automobiles at insurance auctions. Zakharov would do a minimum amount of repair on the vehicles, and then have a friend bring in titling and registration paperwork to his DMV office.

Using an obscure "Possessory Lien" procedure to obtain new titles, police say Zakharov would process the paperwork and get a new Oregon title issued to the repaired car.

When Zakharov processed this paperwork, he would deliberately omit the "Wrecked" or "Totaled" coding designation from the DMV form. Thus, when the new Oregon title was sent from Salem for the automobile, it did not show the vehicle as having been declared "wrecked" or "totaled."

After the friend had received the new title from DMV, it would be signed over to Zakharov and he would then offer the automobile for sale on Craig's List at its full Blue Book value. When the vehicle was purchased, he never told the new owners they were purchasing a previously wrecked automobile.

When Oregon State Police began this criminal investigation it became clear there were some possible violations of United States laws as well as Oregon laws, so the FBI assigned an agent to assist on the investigation.

According to DMV, Zakharov was dismissed from their employment on May 5, 2006.