Audacious gang of car thieves make off with EIGHT vehicles
Gone in 60 seconds! Audacious heist of
Florida car lot caught on camera shows minivan ramming down the gates before thieves drive off with EIGHT vehicles
It looks like something from a video game, but the audacious theft is all too real: Ten men breaking into a car dealership under cover of darkness, locating car keys, waiting for their minivan to bust open the gates and then driving off, single file, into the night.
The theft, which occurred at
Tampa's
Prespa Auto Sales early Friday morning, was slick and organized - and completely caught on camera,
Jalopnik reported.
But the men who took the vehicles, clad in hoodies that hide their identities, don't seem to care one bit that everything they do in the 40-minute heist has been filmed for posterity.
The edited footage posted on YouTube by the
Tampa Police Department begins at 6.36am with footage of the interior of the second-hand car dealership's office, as two thieves climb through a broken window.
'Not really sure why they picked that time specifically, but I can tell you that certainly under the cover of darkness, more crime can occur,' Lt.
Anna Richardson of the Tampa Police Department told
WSVN.
They rifle drawers and take what appear to be a box of keys and, for reasons that are not clear, an office wastepaper basket.
The footage then cuts to the lot, where at least nine men are seen skulking around the cars, seemingly using the automatic lock buttons on the key fobs to locate their new cars.
Others try keys in locks to find out what they'll be driving home that night.
Several of the men are not wearing masks, and their faces are glimpsed by the many rolling security cameras.
This is one of two elements of the operation that doesn't seem professional. The second follows moments later, as one of the men appears to drive a white sedan into another of the cars that is crammed into the lot.
The thieves crowd around the vehicle and inspect the damage, and soon more of their members are there.
The men seem to discuss tactics and maneuvering plans as if this were a scrape in a mall car park and not the middle of a high-stakes heist.
Finally, the white sedan backs up and they return to their vehicles. This wasn't the only 'scratch' that night - Jalopnik reported that 14 of the cars left behind by thieves sustained damage.
The video concludes with its most dramatic moment - a minivan, driving at high speed, rams the front gate and fence, ripping them out of the ground and leaving a wide gap.
Two men run from the minivan as others sprint into other cars on the lot, including a large pickup.
The men then form an orderly queue to leave the dealership, although their getaway is slightly hampered by a sudden burst of traffic that leads to some stop-start getaways.
A final shot in the video appears to show the last two thieves attempting to flee in separate cars, but being held up when a security feature in one of their vehicles causes it to stall and the lights to begin flashing.
The other driver then stops partway in the road just outside the destroyed gate, causing traffic to pause, while his buddy sprints into the car. They then drive away into the night.
The minivan that took the men to the dealership was identified as a
Honda Odyssey that had been stolen in Florida earlier that night, Jalopnik reported.
It had been circling the lot while the men collected the keys and got their cars ready.
The site also said that two of the cars - a
2012 Dodge Ram pickup and a
2005 BMW X3 - were recovered by Friday evening,
WFLA reported.
The
BMW was involved in a single-car crash on
Interstate 4. Its occupants fled before authorities arrived.
Police are still searching for all suspects involved in the theft.
- published: 28 Mar 2016
- views: 73