Wyoming police last weekend caught two men bringing vehicles through the state with false titles, court documents allege.
Georgii Khubezhov, 21, and Albek Bagov, 30, each face one felony count of bearing false vehicle titles, which is punishable by up to two years in prison and $5,000 in fines.
Court documents allege that the men’s cases are connected, and that “they” have been using a mobile printer to print out false vehicle titles while on the road.
Khubezhov’s charge was filed Monday in Cheyenne Circuit Court. He appeared for court Tuesday, where a prosecutor from the Laramie County Attorney’s Office announced that Khubezhov’s case was connected to the case of another man bearing a false title in Carbon County.
Court documents indicate the reference was to Bagov, who is also charged with a smattering of misdemeanors, including driving a commercial vehicle without a commercial driver’s license.
Both men were arrested within two days of one another, Dec. 27 and 29.
Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Caleb Pushcar was called to the port of entry on Interstate 25 in Laramie County the morning of Dec. 27, for a report of a driver with a truck and trailer presenting a fraudulent vehicle registration, the case affidavit alleges.
The license plate number didn’t match the truck; the Indiana Department of Revenue said the registration was fraudulent, says the document.
Khubezhov has been cited for similar offenses in other states, the affidavit adds.
In court Tuesday, the judge swore in a Russian interpreter to communicate with Khubezhov.
The Wyoming Highway Patrol did not immediately return Thursday requests for comment on the two men’s immigration status. An inquiry to Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) is also pending.
Carbon County
Two days later in Carbon County, Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Saajan Biant spotted a “hotshot rig” pulling a trailer with vehicles on it, eastbound on Interstate Highway 80.
When the vehicle swerved, Biant conducted a traffic stop on it, says the evidentiary affidavit in that case.
Bagov was the driver and sole occupant of the truck. He showed an Illinois driver’s license that didn’t satisfy the commercial driver requirement, Biant wrote in the affidavit.
The truck bore no license plates; the driver showed a “supposed Indiana temporary registration” that the Indiana Department of Revenue said had a fake number, the document says.
The Wyoming Highway Patrol had contacted another driver with the same trucking company two days prior, Biant wrote.
“The arresting Trooper (from the Cheyenne case) advised me that during an inventory of the vehicle he had located a mobile printer, which he believed that they are using to print counterfeit registration,” the document says.
Biant also noticed that one of the trailer tires was completely flat, he wrote.
“One had 0 PSI (air pressure) and the other had 12 PSI with a recommended PSI of 105,” the trooper added. Driving with a flat tire is a misdemeanor in Wyoming.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
