Tom Green County Experiences a Rash of Auto Thefts and Burglaries

 

Automobile burglaries have been rampant in the last few days, as a rash of vehicle-related crimes have been reported in several areas.

 Tom Green County Sheriff’s Deputies were busy Thursday and Friday, investigating 33 auto burglaries and two auto thefts in the Grape Creek area.

“They were looking for contents; in the second stolen vehicle, they took some Christmas presents...and now the hunt for the bad guys is on,” said Tom Green County Sheriff’s Department criminal investigator Lt. Terry Lowe.

Sheriff David Jones said that in almost all of the cases, the vehicles were left unlocked, and the two stolen vehicles in Grape Creek were left unattended with the keys in the ignition.

 Jones said that the auto burglaries were triggered by valuables left in plain sight, but also warned that at least two firearms left inside vehicles were stolen as well.

The Grape Creek auto-burglary saga is an ongoing investigation, and Sheriff Jones said no arrests are made as of yet, but expressed confidence that the case will soon be solved.

Other Auto Burglaries inside San Angelo

Last Saturday, San Angelo police say they rounded up a group of approximately five youths who were accused of burglarizing cars in the vicinity of Southland and Southwest Boulevards, the center of one of San Angelo’s largest middle-class neighborhoods. Police officials said they called the young suspects’ parents, and when they arrived, there were more than a few stern interactions between the parents and their kids. No one was arrested.

The Christoval Auto Theft Ring

On Friday, December 5th, Tom Green County Sheriff’s Deputies investigated the theft of a white 2004 GMC ¾ ton pickup.

According to Sheriff’s reports, the owner of the vehicle, Mitchel Calvert, said that he left the keys in the truck’s cab at his shop located south of San Angelo on US 277. An employee noticed that the keys were missing later that afternoon, and by 4:45 p.m. observed the pickup was missing. After searching the property, Calvert called the Sheriff and filed a report.

Later that evening, at 6:18 p.m., deputies were dispatched to Stonewall Valley Lane, a road that travels east from US 277, just north of Christoval--not far from Calvert’s place. There, a hunter told deputies that he had seen multiple white pickups entering some property he was on “at a high rate of speed”.

At least one of the trucks was seen traveling north, towards Ridge Lane, all-terrain vehicle style, crashing through several fences along the way. Deputies located two white trucks abandoned at the Stonewall Valley Lane address, where the 911 call originated.

Deputies then called the Criminal Investigations Division of the San Angelo Police Department to the scene, after learning that the two trucks were reported stolen in the city. After crime-scene evidence was retrieved, SAPD released both vehicles back to their rightful owners.

Meanwhile, the third pickup was still at-large. According to witnesses at the scene, the suspects had fled to Ridge Road over unimproved ranchland, turned westbound on the roadway, and made it back to US 277 in the third white pickup.

Later that evening, another deputy spotted a red Ford F-250 traveling south on Riverside Golf Course Road with a broken headlamp, and pulled the truck over.

The truck wasn’t stolen, but the driver’s license was flagged by dispatch as being under suspension, and inside the cab were two juveniles who said they were carrying no identification and offered the deputy false identities.

The deputy wasn’t fooled, and in the course of his solo investigation suspected one of the juveniles to be a person of interest in what was beginning to look like a youth auto theft crime group. He called for backup, and contacted the San Angelo Police Department, who were investigating auto thefts in the city.  The juveniles were taken into custody and interviewed.

Based upon the evidence received after the juveniles were taken into custody, Calvert’s pickup was found under the Pecan Creek Bridge at U.S. 277 South. Calvert estimated the damage to his truck after the alleged joy ride was somewhere between $6,000 and $7,000.

Sheriff David Jones said that the other two pickups were stolen from businesses along Old Christoval Road. Jones added that at about the same time, two truck tractors that pull semi-trailers were stolen in Christoval. He suspected that the same people were involved. “They tore up a lot of trucks,” Jones added, and said he believes that all of the players in the Christoval auto-theft group have been apprehended.

What to do?

San Angelo Police Chief Tim Vasquez said that the common denominators for these auto burglaries and thefts are citizens leaving the keys in the car, leaving valuables visible inside the car, and doors being left unlocked.  He said that some of the recent cases involve juveniles, where the punishment is less harsh for auto theft than it is for adults.

“A lot of them know that,” Vasquez said.

In addition to urging citizens to be proactive in securing their vehicles, Vasquez said better parenting can assist in preventing these juvenile crime sprees. “There used to be a program in San Angelo called ‘Right Choices for Youth’,” he said. “They had an ad campaign that I really liked. It said, ‘It’s 10 p.m. Do you know where your kids are?’”

Subscribe to the LIVE! Daily

The LIVE! Daily is the "newspaper to your email" for San Angelo. Each content-packed edition has weather, the popular Top of the Email opinion and rumor mill column, news around the state of Texas, news around west Texas, the latest news stories from San Angelo LIVE!, events, and the most recent obituaries. The bottom of the email contains the most recent rants and comments. The LIVE! daily is emailed 5 days per week. On Sundays, subscribers receive the West Texas Real Estate LIVE! email.

Required

Most Recent Videos

Comments

Oh man "there were more than a few stern interactions between the parents and their kids. No one was arrested." What a great new rehabilitation technique. Stern looks! Wonder if the cops had any evidence? Wonder if stern looks would have been issued north of 306?
It was stern interactions, not stern looks. Might be a euphemism for a whuppin', or not. I wonder if it was a $6000 interaction? Probably not.
jdgt, Fri, 12/12/2014 - 16:42
Leave it to San Angelo to slap little Sammy on the hand and send him home with mommy and daddy... (Same with Billy Bob who wrecked his truck out by the country club...) JUST because they're kids doesn't mean we should let mommy and daddy handle the punishing. If mommy and daddy were doing their parenting job - little Sammy and Billy wouldn't be getting into this type of trouble!
It's Grape Creek, what do you expect. Everyone knows that Grape Creek isn't a good area to live in
You know "Guess who"... That is a very rude and ignorant blanket statement. Grape Creek is not some sort of trashy ghetto. Sure, it has areas that are poor... it has areas where I am sure not so honest people live... so does about 1/4 of San Angelo city limits. There are a lot of people here who work on the base, many like my family, active duty military. I know we chose to move here to Grape Creek years back when we got stationed here because I much preferred it to San Angelo. Nice open and safe place for both my animals and my kids to live. My kids are good kids and Grape Creek offers them a good school with excellent teachers. There are some beautiful homes out here as well. So to claim, that everyone knows that Grape Creek is not a good area to live in... when there is constant arrests in town for a significant number of horrible things... terrible car accidents from uninsured people generally drunk, high, or flat out not paying attention... and so much other stuff IN TOWN.... is just ignorant. I will take Grape Creek over San Angelo city limits any day. Your kind of thinking is what causes stuff like bigotry and genocide to happen. Judging an entire group off a pathetic and untrue stereotype just because it is not where you are or what you are is dangerous and stupid. Wake up, grow up, and think up.
I have lived in the Grape Creek area for 20+ years. I love the area where I live. You have the good and the bad EVERYWHERE. Even where the Grape Creek haters/rude statement people live is not a PERFECT PLACE. Crime happens in all areas, the areas where the rude, judging, bullying people's are...they are not without crime happening In their area from time to time. You are supposedly an adult...hopefully you are not teaching your kids or grandkids to judge, be rude to a whole area for some terrible people. Is your entire family perfect? There is always someone....somewhere....everywhere! My opinion....
These junior thugs have proven early on in life that they are of no use or value to society. Laws need to change nationwide and every city needs to have a euthanization center where trash like this can be disposed of to protect the hard working law abiding citizens of this country....
How ridiculous. Kill children and human beings for theft? Seriously... what an idiot. I am all for the death penalty where the punishment fits the crime.... but that is just a sickening thing to even say. That is part of the issue in this world right there... the way people think is so ignorant and it is unfortunately spreading to the younger generations and multiplying. First of all, people need to lock their stuff (houses, cars, whatever) and second of all, parents need to be allowed to discipline their kids... and I mean BEAT THAT ASS when they kids start to go down that road. But NOOOO, instead they get the cops and a social worker at their door if they do. Then they lose their kids and go to jail. Cannot do anything anymore to kids. That is the issue. You wanna euthanize some one, do it to all those people making it illegal to even parent children properly.
I like that Dr Ding, but maybe they could just take them to planned parenthood and call it a "late term abortion".
"In addition to urging citizens to be proactive in securing their vehicles, Vasquez said better parenting can assist in preventing these juvenile crime sprees." I don't think many of the parents really care about their little delinquents. Society can't make people who rear children more responsible. It can't be legislated or demanded by fiat rule. The prisons are full of people that were neglected as children.
It is not just parents but society in a lot of cases. Unearned trophies for participating as an example. Just show up and you win. Really? What does that teach? Entitlement. We need to teach that you are entitled to only that which you earn. As for locking my stuff up, why? Locked or not, no one has the right to steal and being unlocked is no invitation to steal. Besides locks only keep honest people honest. One other issue I want to touch on, our so called justice system. Time and again we see repeat offenders even slaps on the hand for serious crimes only to see them keep on doing it. Getting probation for violating probation, etc. Time to fix that.
It irritates me that they are not doing anything to these kids. IDC what you caught them red handed with a cd or a whole car it is wrong and they are going to continue to do it until you really give them a hard life lesson! We were victims of a crime not too long ago someone stole the tool box from my fiances truck it had over 1000 dollars worth of tools that he uses every day for his job. It really ticks me off a stupid slap on the wrist! Fine them, give them jail time , and fine their parents! Im at a loss of words for our justice system here. Seems the good people get crapped on and the real thiefs get to walk away. Makes me sick

Post a comment to this article here:

X Close