Police: Ring Of Thieves Targeting Tires & Rims On High End Cars
DAVIE (CBS4) - It isn't "Gone in 60 Seconds."
More like gone in 30 minutes.
Davie Police says surveillance video taken last fall outside a home in an upscale, gated community shows a thief taking his time stealing tires and rims off a Cadillac Escalade -- one of 11 such crimes in the city in recent months.
The video even shows the thief ducking out of the way when a car drives down the street.
By the end of the crime, the Escalade is on blocks, the thief and the tires are gone and the unsuspecting victim remains sound asleep.
A police photo reveals what the homeowner saw later in the morning -- his car resting on bricks and $9-thousand dollars worth of tires and rims stolen.
And it all happened inside a gated community.
"I don't want to scare the public unnecessarily but yes, criminals, if they find something that they want they're gonna come and get it," said Davie Police Captain Dale Engle. "It doesn't matter where you live or what type of community you live in."
Police say the thieves followed other cas into the gated community or even hopped fences to get inside the guarded neighborhoods.
Police can't say for sure who the guy is in the video but detectives say they traced the tires to this man -- Nathan Jones. In fact, investigators say they caught him with his hands full of hot rubber.
"As they arrived at his house, Mr. Jones was wheeling the wheels out of his house to wash them in preparation to give them to whoever was going to purchase them," said Captain Engle.
According to police reports, Jones admitted being a lookout on at least two occasions but refused to divulge who else was involved in the crimes. When CBS 4 showed up at his door, Jones denied having anything at all to do with the crimes.
"I didn't steal nothing," Jones said. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Jones is charged in at least two of the 11 burglaries in Davie since last September.
Other cities have seen similar heists -- like at a Maserati dealership in Fort Lauderdale in January.
Bottom line, police say, the high-end tires and rims are a tempting treat for some cons, who can get big money for them on the black market.
"There's people actually placing orders for these," Captain Engle said. "There's a crew of people that go out and steal the rims and tires for a specific customer."
Davie Police believe there are other members of this ring operating in South Florida. Police are asking for the public's help to catch them. Investigators say if you see anything suspicious, call police or Broward Crimestoppers at (954) 493-TIPS.
