UPDATE: Report from WWL-TV on January 25, 2013
Peggy Harmon was shocked to find her son’s Corvette on cinder blocks last week, stripped of it’s tires and rims. Thieves hit the car the night of January 16th or in the early morning hours of January 17th in front of her Lakeview home on Argonne Boulevard.
“The window of opportunity for them to do this was so small and we have such good lighting on this street, that it was a little surprising,” said Harmon.
Police believe several people must work together to quickly jack the car up, put it on cinder blocks and then take the tires. “If they can do it in a minute and half to two minutes, what chance do you have?” said Harmon.
A few houses over, a Cadillac had its wheels stolen just a few months ago. Burglars also hit a Tahoe on nearby Louis XIV Street last week. Now neighbors are taking extra precautions.
“I think we’ll probably leave our exterior lights on through the night,” said neighbor Jeanine Miller. Others are installing security cameras and tire locks. Police say that’s just a deterrent. Tire thieves have been targeting high end vehicles all over the metro area for months. It started with 20 inch rims on SUVs, but Harmon’s case shows, cars are becoming targets too.
“It’s a scary feeling because you wonder when are they going to graduate from cars to houses,” said Harmon. Harmon said it will cost thousands of dollars to replace her son’s tires and rims. For now, she’s just glad no one was hurt and she’s hoping for more patrols on the street.
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photo by Linda Landesberg
Tires and wheels were stolen from this Chevrolet in the 1300 block of Moss Street this morning. (January 12, 2013)
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A neighbor reports, “sometime in the night on Sunday, January 6th, a white pickup near Moss and Dumaine had all its tires stolen.
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Just over a month ago on December 7, 2012 tires and wheels were stolen from this vehicle on North White.
Tommy Lewis sent in these photos of the work of some unwelcome visitors.
Thieves stole the tires off of this vehicle near the corner of Grand Route Saint John and North White sometime last night. (December 12, 2012)
