11 Vehicles Stolen From Wheat Ridge Car Dealership
WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. (CBS4) – Eleven vehicles were stolen overnight Tuesday from a dealership in Wheat Ridge, including an older model Mercedes and Jaguar.
Police said the unknown thieves broke into the McManus Motors building located at 4775 Harlan Street in the middle of the night.
Owner Trevor McManus believes the thieves took tools from a nearby construction site and used them to bust through the office door, where several dozen keys were inside.
"I was pretty astonished because it takes a pretty good amount of effort to move 11 vehicles. These guys were able to do it in the middle of the night, which is pretty awesome," said McManus.
Despite a loss of over $100,000 in merchandise, he is happy knowing his staff is safe.
"My employees are all safe, nobody got hurt, nobody got injured, and the key feature is making sure that we're all safe."
Among the cars stolen were a red Jaguar and a blue Mercedes. More than 50 other car keys were also taken from the office.
A 2003 silver Ford Excursion was recovered at the Shell gas station located at 53 Avenue and Wadsworth Boulevard in Wheat Ridge.
"We have recovered one vehicle so far, it was at a gas station in Arvada a short distance from the dealership," said Commander JD Jepkema of the Wheat Ridge Police Department.
"The vehicles had very limited gas in them as is common with dealerships," he said.
McManus does not believe any of his employees were behind the theft, but does believe it was an organized crime.
"I don't know about you but I can't call 11 people right now and ask them to drive cars for me. There's no 11 people that I know that I can say hey let's go drive 11 cars off this lot right now at 2 a.m.," he said.
McManus will have to pay upwards of $8,000 to re-key the rest of the cars on his lot.
The stolen vehicles may still have a McManus Motors plate in place of a license plate, but there are no suspect descriptions.
Authorities are asking the public to be on the lookout for the following cars, which may still have dealer license plates:
2015 gold Chevrolet Malibu
2014 white Ford Fiesta
2004 blue Mercedes E500W
2005 white Ford Explorer
2005 silver BMW X3
2002 green Dodge Ram 1500
2001 white Chevy Silverado
1999 white Chevy Suburban
2001 gray Toyota Tundra
2000 red Jaguar S-type
Additional Information From The Wheat Ridge Police Department
Anyone with information about the stolen vehicles or who may have taken them is asked to call Wheat Ridge Police at (303)237-2220.
Kelly Werthmann joined the CBS4 team in 2012 as the morning reporter, covering national stories like the Aurora Theater Shooting and devastating Colorado wildfires. She now reports for CBS4 News at 10 and is always open to story ideas. Connect with her on Facebook or Twitter @KellyCBS4.
