It takes a brazen person to walk onto a car dealership lot and make off with 22 separate sets of rims and tires from cars on the lot. But that’s exactly what happened to a Texas City, Texas Chevy dealer, which now has to deal with the theft of tens of thousands of dollars of merchandise, and a lot full of essentially-useless vehicles.
Houston’s KHOU.com reports that employees at DeMontrond Chevrolet came into work last Sunday to discover the theft, which has authorities baffled by the boldness of it all.
Police believe that sometime between the dealership closing on Saturday night and opening on Sunday, thieves cut the lock to the gate, snipped the power line to the lot lights, and systematically stole the most valuable wheels on the lot. The hardest hit cars included a group of high-end Camaros, though other expensive models were also hit.
Early estimates place the loss of some 88 wheels at more than $100,000, and some of the victimized vehicles fell off of the wooden blocks the thieves used to support them. This has caused further damage to the cars, and police are asking for the public’s help in apprehending these merciless wheel wranglers.