Dallas police bust suspected chop shop as car theft victims watch
DALLAS — A North Texas man managed to track down his wife's stolen car, and in the process helped lead police to an apparent chop shop.
While he did not want to share his name, he was willing to share his story.
"My wife's Super Sport was stolen Tuesday night from DeSoto, and thank God we had a tracker."
He says they followed the car as it moved from location to location before making its way to a home on Mail Avenue, a dead-end street between Love Field and Parkland Hospital.
"Fortunately, we were able to finally put eyes on it and contact DPD," he said. "We verified it, gave them the information, and they confirmed it with the tracker."
He watched for hours as tow trucks brought out several high-performance cars, auto parts, engines, even jet skis. Finally, near the end of the afternoon, he saw his wife's yellow Dodge Charger roll down the street.
"I just thank God that we were able to locate the vehicle and find it in one piece," he said, adding, "Because as you saw, there were so many vehicles that were not in one piece."
Destiny O'Neal was part of the crowd that gathered to watch the police operation. Her vehicle was stolen a few months ago; since then she said she's been in contact with other people whose cars were also stolen. They all believe the same people were behind the thefts.
"The same people were taunting us on social media, posting to our pages that they got our cars, flashing guns, drugs, money," she said. "Basically taunting us saying, 'Hey, we got your car, come get your car,' like, 'haha, what are you going to do about it.'"
O'Neal said once word spread of the bust on Mail Avenue, she came to see if her vehicle was among those found.
"My car wasn't found here, but I was happy that someone's day was made," she said. "Even if it wasn't mine."
In an email, DPD said Alexander Limon, 22, was arrested and charged with theft, along with receiving and concealing.
The department has struggled with rising auto thefts over the last several years. That trend appears to be slowing: reports are down more than 10% so far this year compared to the same period last year.
"It's great work of our auto theft," said Kristin Lowman, a spokesperson for DPD. "It's dismantling of chop shops... it's just good police work."
Lowman also points to the new way to report auto thefts to DPD. In December, the department began letting car owners file reports using a video chat instead of waiting for an officer to show up.
"Before the pilot program, a resident was looking at 14 hours before there was an officer that responded to that particular priority of a call," Lowman said. "At this point, it's down to three hours."
According to Lowman, DPD has written nearly 4,000 reports using the video chat program since its inception.
One more bright spot for the department: vehicle burglaries are also on the decline, with a 14% decrease so far this year compared to last.