(06/14/06) FREEHOLD ? Sixteen people have been arrested and accused of orchestrating a fraud scheme centered around classic cars in Monmouth County.

Police say the mastermind, Paul Brennan, used cars destined for the scrap heap rather than the showroom for his plan. According to investigators, Brennan took the vehicle identification numbers off junked classic cars and wrote 15 bogus leases. The 15 other suspects, each of whom police say had a phony lease, were then apparently going to report their cars stolen and split the insurance money.

Investigators say only one car was reported stolen out of the entire lot. According to police, the insurance company paid $39,000 for that vehicle. They believe if the group had a chance to report every car stolen, the suspects would have made off with about $500,000.