HIDALGO – Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Investigators say they are working to track down the car of a Rio Grande Valley man found dead in a canal.

KRGV’s Trason Bragg spoke with a local investigator to learn what kind of challenges authorities run into when they search for vehicles with paper plates.

The investigator in charge of identifying fraudulent vehicle registration information in Hidalgo County, Cesar Solis, says there are many vehicles with fake paper plates on Rio Grande Valley roads.

Solis says fake plates can make some investigations more challenging.

He says his office solves 90 percent of cases involving fake plates.

Solis adds producing fake plates is a state jail felony, punished by more than two years in prison.

Selling fake plates is a class “A” misdemeanor, punishable by up to two years in jail.

For more information, watch the video above.