A former Brampton Service Ontario employee is at the centre of a shocking vehicle theft ring that stretched across Ontario and beyond — helping criminals re-register stolen high-end cars with new vehicle identification numbers (VINs) and sell them to unsuspecting buyers.
Tonisha Baird, who worked at a Service Ontario branch in Brampton, was convicted earlier this year for her role in a scheme to traffic stolen vehicles, operating in concert with auto shop owner Eric Johnson, the alleged mastermind behind the operation.
The court heard Baird didn’t just facilitate the scheme — she bragged about it. In intercepted phone calls, she boasted about her ability to manipulate government systems to erase toll violations or re-VIN stolen cars with ease. “Let’s say for example you’re on the 407, you don’t pay the bills, and it never comes back to you,” she said in a call recorded by police.
One of the stolen vehicles she helped re-register was a $45,000 Audi SUV, which Baird herself was caught driving — paying only $162 in taxes when registering it.
Baird and Johnson were convicted in Brampton Superior Court in March 2025, with their sentencing read in May. But authorities believe this is just the tip of the iceberg. A broader investigation by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), dubbed Project Myra, has traced the network from the GTA to Sudbury and even Saskatchewan.
Police allege that Johnson oversaw a widespread operation to change VINs on stolen luxury vehicles — including Land Rovers, Bentleys, and Porsches — before reselling them. Investigators even uncovered a ghost company in Sudbury falsely registering cars, and later tracked those vehicles to a facility north of Toronto operated by Johnson’s company, Prexco.
The scheme allegedly relied on corrupt insiders like Baird. Investigators are also probing two other Service Ontario employees in Scarborough accused of pushing fake VINs into the government registry system. Civil forfeiture filings show that raids on their homes uncovered stacks of car registration forms and licence plates — suggesting an organized effort to exploit weaknesses in the vehicle registration system.
“This isn’t just happening in Ontario,” said Mike Fehr, a former member of Edmonton’s auto theft unit. “It’s a national issue — stolen vehicles are moving across the country constantly.”
The scheme’s exposure comes as Ontario grapples with a rise in vehicle thefts and fraud. Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria has since pledged tougher laws to crack down on re-VINning and hold corrupt actors accountable. “We have no appetite to have any mercy on those who are stealing these vehicles,” he said during a recent news conference.
While Baird and Johnson await final sentencing, the investigation continues into other dealerships and possible Service Ontario links that may have enabled the laundering of stolen cars.
NEXT in the W5 Series: How insurance fraud investigators uncovered a $1 million car scam hiding in plain sight.