For a year, police from several agencies have been investigating how a theft ring has been stealing new cars from dealerships with ease. It was almost as if they had a key, with surveillance footage not showing them taking time to reprogram the ignition before driving off.
Car theft ring members brag on social media, get busted.
Dubbed “Operation Hellcat” because the thieves mostly focused on stealing the powerful Dodge muscle cars, how the theft ring was pulling off the seemingly impossible was discovered by the West Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office in Port Allen, Louisiana.
It took coordinating with 10 other law enforcement agencies to put all the pieces of the puzzle together and make an epic car theft ring bust, reports local station WBRZ.
Sheriff’s investigators were at first perplexed about why a rash of break-ins at the United Pacific auto facility in town didn’t involve the theft of any cars. The suspects seemed desperate to get inside, one time even using a new truck to try ramming through a gate, which didn’t work.
But why would someone try so desperately to not steal anything?
Digging, investigators eventually learned the suspects were taking one of the two key fobs in left inside the new cars, then dropping an Apple AirTag inside so they knew the dealership where each vehicle was being kept.
Armed with the key and location, members of the theft ring would show up in the middle of the night, unlock the car, and drive away, never needing to break in or hack anything. It was a brilliantly simple plan which had left local law enforcement in the region perplexed.
By coordinating with other agencies, Operation Hellcat has led to the arrest of six individuals and the recovery of 19 car key fobs.
While we’ve seen our fair share of dumb criminals, these car thieves thought up a deviously brilliant plan.
Image via Kam Knustlye Beitel/Facebook
[…] dealerships have almost been like vending machines for car thieves over the past few years. That trend seems to just be worsening as organized theft […]