Did executive steal Rolls-Royce?

The owner of one of the largest trucking firms at the Port of Seattle has been indicted on a charge of trying to steal a Rolls-Royce from U.S. Customs three years ago — a charge the businessman claims is retaliation for his refusal to work as an undercover informant on the docks.

Eric Rangeloff, 47, admits he took the vehicle, a 1983 Silver Spirit, but insists he had permission from Customs after the luxury sedan had sat abandoned in a warehouse next to his business for nearly two decades. The deal seemed legal to the intended buyer of the car, as well — former Olympia Police Chief John Wurner.

Wurner said he had agreed to pay Rangeloff between $2,500 and $5,000 for the car — he couldn't recall the exact amount — and he was at the Port to load the car into a trailer in December 2004 when police arrived and seized the vehicle.

Wurner, who now lives in Oregon, said he's never talked to federal investigators about it. Had they asked, he said, he would have told them that Rangeloff "even drew me a little map to the nearest Customs office so I could clear and go home."

"Why would he do that if he was trying to steal the car?" said Wurner, an exotic-car buff who spent more than 30 years in law enforcement and retired in 1997 after 18 years as chief in Olympia. "I must say I am surprised he's been charged."

Port of Seattle police investigated and submitted a case to King County prosecutors in January 2005, but no state criminal charges were filed. Rangeloff said he heard nothing more about the incident until last year, when he was approached by Customs agents who told him he would be charged in federal court unless he agreed to work undercover for them.

"They think I know something about stolen [cargo] containers" at the Port, he said. "They said they would make the case go away. I told them I don't know anything and that I'm not going to risk my life for this."

"An ongoing investigation"

Rangeloff was charged in a magistrate's complaint in U.S. District Court in Tacoma on Dec. 10 — three years to the day after the incident. An indictment was issued by a federal grand jury two weeks ago.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Thomas, the prosecutor in the case, said he could not discuss it nor say why it took three years to file a criminal charge. He declined to discuss the actions of any of the agents involved.

A telephone call to Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent Daniel McNamara — the agent who filed the complaint and who Rangeloff said tried to pressure him to work as an informant — was returned by the agency's spokeswoman, Lorie Dankers, who said she could not talk about "an ongoing investigation."

The charges allege that Rangeloff — who owns and operates Port businesses Western Cartage, Seattle Bulk Rail and Seattle Transload — took the vehicle from a "Foreign Trade Zone," an area where some imports are held before clearing Customs to enter the U.S.

The zone included a chain-link cage in a warehouse where the Rolls-Royce had sat for more than a decade, and probably closer to two, according to Rangeloff. Court documents say the car had been there for "many years." Thomas, the prosecutor, said the car had just 4,000 miles on it. He would not say who owned it, although Wurner recalled a dealer tag was in Arabic.

At the time, the car — with its burled mahogany dash, plush leather, powerful V-8 engine and distinctive Rolls-Royce grille — might have been worth upward of $45,000, based on a review of similar vehicles on custom-car Web sites.

Wurner said the car appeared to be in good condition, although Rangeloff said it did not run.

The car was reported missing in October 2004 after Rangeloff moved it to his adjacent lot, a few dozen yards away, and put it in a trailer. Rangeloff and Wurner were prepared to consummate their deal and were putting the car in another trailer when someone saw it and called Port police.

Curious over the years

According to the charges, Rangeloff used a company forklift to move the car from the warehouse to his adjacent, 10-acre lot at Terminal 18. Rangeloff leased the space around the warehouse to park his trucks, and said he had seen and asked about the car over the years.

The charging documents allege that he acknowledged in a signed statement "that he could understand how it would appear that he stole the vehicle since he was not the owner and did not have permission from United States Customs or the owner to take it."

But Rangeloff said he had talked to several Customs officials about it over the years and eventually was told he could take the car if he could "get it cleared" through Customs.

Wurner had met Rangeloff when he dropped off a Porsche at Seattle Transload for a friend to be shipped overseas. Rangeloff called the former police chief later to ask if he was interested in the Rolls.

"My vague recollection is that I asked if it was cleared and he said he had checked it out with Customs, so I drove up and took a look," Wurner said.

Later, when he was asked by a Port police officer "if the whole thing didn't seem a little strange, I said not at all," the former chief said. Wurner recalled that, years ago, a Customs official let him have an abandoned Mercedes-Benz at the Port, which the former chief said he fixed up and donated for charity.

"This had happened before" without any trouble, he said.

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com