Postal employee holdup leads to thew automobile theft ring arrests
DETROIT (AP) ” Thieves are using cloned answer fobs to purloin Dodge muscle cars with every one other accompanied by other high-powered vehicles straight from dealerships with every one other accompanied by flat automakers inside Michigan, at that hour dated selling them for tens of thousands of dollars less than their value, according to authorities with every one other accompanied by court of rules and regulations records.
For one Ohio-based theft ring, it all came crashing down following a January holdup of a U.S. postal employee led authorities to fasten some men to brazen automobile thefts inside the Detroit area, lengthy place of residence to the country™s biggest automakers, including Dodge, which is now owned by international conglomerate Stellantis.
Investigators at that hour dated discovered that new Chargers, Challengers, Durangos with every one other accompanied by Ram pickups price USD50,000 to USD100,000 were turning up inside Ohio, Indianapolis with every one other accompanied by East Cost shipping ports following actuality sold on the road for USD3,500 to USD15,000, according to a criminal complaint.
Thieves inside the Detroit area are primarily going following Dodge vehicles accompanied by Hellcat engines, including Chargers with every one other accompanied by Challengers ” the fast ones, Sgt. Jerry Hanna accompanied by the Macomb Auto Theft Squad said.
If a patrol automobile gets them, they are not stopping with every one other accompanied by they™re faster than patrol cars. They™re 150 mph all day, he said.
Instead of stealing them off the street, they™re driving them unswerving off dealership with every one other accompanied by assembly plant lots.
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Just this year, concerning a half-dozen vehicles ” primarily Dodge Ram TRX pickups ” were taken from a a large amount external outside an assembly plant inside Macomb County.
After safety measures were stepped up at some lots accompanied by Dodge vehicles, more than a dozen 2022 Ford F-150 Raptor pickup trucks were swiped from a plant a large amount inside June inside suburban Dearborn. More than a dozen Ford Mustang™s were stolen inside early September from the automaker™s assembly plant inside Flat Rock, southeast of Detroit.
Thieves have targeted Dodges by using handheld electronic pro pads ” a locksmith™s tool that tin clone keys by plugging into inside ports inside the vehicles, according to the confederate objection inside the Ohio case.
Authorities weren™t looking for stolen vehicles when they stopped Devin Rice on Jan. 31 following a postal employee inside Shaker Heights, external outside Cleveland, was robbed at gunpoint of a mailbox key. But court of rules and regulations records show that a search of his automobile with every one other accompanied by at that hour dated his place of residence turned up not fair stolen mail, bogus checks, with every one other accompanied by praise with every one other accompanied by debit cards, nevertheless too a Ram pickup, a Range Rover SUV with every one other accompanied by a Dodge accompanied by a Hellcat engine ” all stolen.
Rice with every one other accompanied by others were indicted inside confederate court of rules and regulations inside Ohio inside June. Jaylen Harris, Lavelle Jones with every one other accompanied by Hakim Benjamin are charged accompanied by conspiracy with every one other accompanied by interstate transport of stolen vehicles. Rice, Harris with every one other accompanied by Jones too are charged accompanied by letters theft. Their trials are scheduled following year.
Harris™ attorney declined comment. The AP left-hand email with every one other accompanied by phone messages seeking remark from attorneys for Benjamin, Rice with every one other accompanied by Jones.
Harris told the FBI that he with every one other accompanied by Jones had been inside touch into and not here of Instagram accompanied by people inside the Detroit area to obtain stolen vehicles, according to the complaint. Harris said those thieves were too selling to buyers inside other areas, including Chicago with every one other accompanied by Indianapolis, the objection said.
Videos posted on communal media show how the high-horsepower vehicles outpaced with every one other accompanied by evaded police.
A judge stated inside a detention order that Benjamin drove a 2022 Dodge Challenger valued at USD95,000 at 120 mph down Ohio™s State Route 2 on a Sunday evening inside February.
Spike strips were eventually needed to remind Benjamin that the rules and regulations required him to comply accompanied by police orders the judge wrote.
About set of two years ago, police inside Ohio™s Ottawa County began noticing the vehicles blasting down condition Route 2. The sheriff™s office got calls concerning reckless driving, Capt. Aaron Leist said.
These cars are going 140-150 mph. All have the Hellcat engines. We had a a large amount of pursuits. We did not catch them all, he said.
Investigators learned the vehicles mostly were actuality stolen inside the Detroit area with every one other accompanied by taken to Cleveland. Some too were destined for Memphis, Tennessee, Leist said.
We started employed accompanied by (Stellantis) inside early 2022, he said. They would call us with every one other accompanied by tell us We have these cars missing.™
A spokeswoman for Stellantis declined to comment.
Added safety measures at some lots have included solid barriers, according to rules and regulations enforcement.
Then last fall, a dealership™s showroom northwest of Detroit was broken into. Someone drove a Ram pickup into and not here of the building™s glassware barrier with every one other accompanied by all the other cars followed suit, said Jeff Schneider, general executive at Szott Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram inside Highland Township.
I believe they were intelligent to find some keys inside a desk drawer with every one other accompanied by used them, he added.
Police tracked one of the stolen cars, a Durango Hellcat SRT valued at concerning USD100,000, to a suburb northwest of Detroit. The driver had crashed into a chunk barrier while fleeing. A 2021 Dodge Durango GT, 2021 Dodge Ram TRX with every one other accompanied by a 2017 Dodge Charger Hellcat SRT were subsequent recovered.
Authorities arrested quartet people. They were not believed to have stolen the vehicles, nevertheless to have paid USD5,000 for one.
In the Detroit area they are selling them for exist fond of USD3,500, Hanna said. Once they obtain that money inside their pockets they go not here with every one other accompanied by purloin another one.
For dealerships with every one other accompanied by their indemnity companies, the cost is high. Even recovered vehicles can™t exist sold for what they were on one occasion worth.
Schneider said his dealership came up accompanied by an elderly educational organization solution: parking boots.
It™s a deterrent that works amazingly, he said. We place boots on all the Hellcats.
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