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Wheel Thief Caught!!!

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Pablo

Active Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2004
Messages
3,430
Some of you saw my other thread, but those that didnt, here was my original post: http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/turbo-lounge/204919-so-i-wake-up-morning-find.html

Today I was driving my friends car with him in the passenger seat on a main street in this town I live in when I spot an Intrigue like mine waiting for the light to pull onto the road I was on. As I pass by I tell my friend "Watch, this is the mofo that stole my wheel" and amazingly, I spot some scummy "gangster" types iinside and, 3 factory chrome wheels and 1 non chrome wheel like mine.

I immediately pull a u turn and manuever behind them several cars back. I trail them to a house a few miles down the road where I see them pull in the driveway that wraps around the back of the house (a crappy looking rented house)

I called the cops... I didnt think they would do much but a cop showed up rght away (we were waiting down the street) and basically gave us the story that there was no way he could prove it was my wheel, yadd yadda

He decides to check it out anyway so we take him there. He follows us and we park infront of the neighbors house. The cop rolls up the driveway and just before he gets out of view I see him yell and pull out his gun.

He dissappears for a little bit and as we are waiting we see a guy jump the fence from the house in question and then run into a neighbors garage. He saw us watching him about 30 feet away.

When that happened I decided to dial 911 again to get backup, but just as that happened two more police cars showed up and I hollered at em to let em know the guy was hiding in that garage.
By now they have one gangster looking kid in custody and they roll into the garage tazers and guns drawn.

After some commotion (screaming) they pull this other guy out, frisk and then cuff him.

As the cops escort him past my buddy and I, this human waste tells me "Sorry bro, sorry bro". Yeah, sorry you got caught I was thinking

The cops then inform me that he was a convicted felon illegal alien, and the other one was a juvenile offender that had violated parole.

They then tell me that I need to tell them something that distinguishes the wheel as mine. Apparently the fact that it didntmatch the rest of his wheels and had the tire I descrbed to them wasnt enough legally speaking. Off the record the cops knew it was my wheel. The other kid apparently told the cop "I had nothng to do with it!" when they put him in the car.

The police then played some psychological games wth them and managed to get them to admit the wheel was not theirs and that it mysteriously just appeared on their car one morning :rolleyes:

They got them to say that I could take it back (permission to take back my own property? crazy) So the cop and I rolled up the driveway and sure as **** it was my wheel. I then used their jack and tire iron to remove my wheel and take back my lug nuts. I was nicer than them though and left the car on a jack, not cinder blocks (maybe i should have)

The police said they didnt think they could charge them with wheel theft since they couldnt prove it but they did tell me that the illegal would be deported and the 17 year old will be processed as a parole violator.

This event pretty much made my year, it was the day good guys won for a change. I just mounted my wheel back on my car with wheel locks where it belongs.

The main police officer I was dealing with told me that in his 14 years of being a cop he had never seen a wheel theft end up like this. He said most of the time he would maybe get a description and that was it. I told him that I was super paranoid and when someone steals from me I take it very personally... I was bound to get it back.

Now the only thing I have to worry about is retaliation. I am taking measures to defend myself, hopefully they aren't stupid enough to try me twice.
 
Good detective work...and it pays to have an eye for scumbags...my wife hates when I stereotype...
 
Right on! Glad to hear it worked out;)


"If you don't want to be stereotyped, Don't be stereotypical"
 
U handled that well.

Nice work by the Officers and by U for keeping ur cool. It would be understandable if U and ur Buddy had gone after the guy in the garage, but that would just complicate matters cuz Im sure U would have lumped him up. As far as the psycological games U referred to, I commonly refer to it as "Jedi Mind Tricks". Its a lost art of asking and reasking the same question in a different way, then giving the subject what he percieves to be an "out", which really turns out to be an admission of guilt. It works especially well in stolen car arrests. If I were U, I would switch cars with a friend for a while, I really doubt these clowns would show up and mess with the car, but U never know. The money it would cost U could be better spent on the Turbo car.
 
good for you man!...scumbag phaghags :mad: shoulda jacked the car up by the lower body...."errr, never changed a tire before :o "
 
That's awesome. You pretty much did what I summed up in one sentence back in the other thread. Buy a gun...

Jason
 
I recall your other thread, and it's great to hear you got your wheel back.

Just keep a close watch on your car for a little while, or like suggested earlier, switch cars with a friend for a short time.
 
good for you man, glad to hear it. though, as much as i would like to agree "buy a gun" ..its worthless. Unless you were in your house, and an army started to invade it, and was shooting at you, you cant use a gun for ANYthing. Youll end up in court, cuz the family of the bad guy you shot, will sue you for wrongful death, or attempted murder, and win. Not worth it. get a good dog (staffordshire terrier) and a decent alarm, and you should be ok.
If i were you though, i wouldnt have been so nice to those guys...
 
So was this the same house that had a car with the wheel that your thought was yours?
 
Just shows how stupid or arrogant most criminals are, why would they steal something that obvious that close to where they live:rolleyes: why wouldn't they atleast get a can of chrome spraypaint to cover up the 1 different whell on the car:confused:
You might want to try motion detectors around your driveway that ring inside the house if someone trips it during the night.

Good Job;)
 
curious -- did the wheels have locking lugnuts ?? Locking lugnuts are shockingly easy to remove, but maybe it does slow down the thieves a bit.

I've thought a truncated-cone-shaped lugnut (narrow at top, wider at bottom) would make it harder for the lock-remover-tool to get a grip, but have never seen such a lugnut, plus it might not be compatible on all wheel types.
 
curious -- did the wheels have locking lugnuts ?? Locking lugnuts are shockingly easy to remove, but maybe it does slow down the thieves a bit.

I've thought a truncated-cone-shaped lugnut (narrow at top, wider at bottom) would make it harder for the lock-remover-tool to get a grip, but have never seen such a lugnut, plus it might not be compatible on all wheel types.

they are the worst a large 16 point socket and a hammer takes them out in a second.
 
Congradulations.

One thing you could check is if the tires were replaced at the same time they might have consecutive serial numbers on them.
Or the bill of sale might have the serial numbers.

Then there were the dumb mexicans that stole one of our cars, painted it, put plates from the same model only 6 years older and went to visit a buddy in prison. The guards run the plates of ALL vehicles entering and this guard noticed that the car was a lot newer then the registration. The thieves went out one door and back in another.
 
Good job! I love happy endings! :)

The only thing that would have made it better would have been to take care of that guy in the garage first ("It was self defense officer..."), THEN hand him over to the cops..... ;)
 
Pablo
Chris sent me this link and I read it yesterday without seeing who wrote it. Then he told me last night.

Havent seen you for a while. Hope the rest of your life is going better than your tires.

Later
 
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