PEORIA, Ill. — With more cars being stolen nearly every week, Peoria County Sheriff Chris Watkins says he knows who is stealing them.
Watkins says a large group of teens are known to be casing our neighborhoods for Hyundai and Kia models that they can easily hotwire.
“They’re doing it to joyride, to commit other crimes. A lot of juveniles…I think we had over ten stolen cars this weekend that were stolen with their windows broken out,” Watkins says.
Watkins tells WMBD’s “The Greg and Dan Show”, to protect your car from being stolen, get “The Club”. It prevents anyone from being able to steer your vehicle if it’s in place.
Watkins also says key fobs shouldn’t be left in your car, and cars parked outside should not have a garage door opener inside, otherwise vehicles in the garage could also be stolen.
A problem the Peoria County Sheriff’s Office is seeing with teens stealing cars, is that they know they likely won’t get into too much trouble, even if they get caught.
“We’re seeing about half of them, when they get caught with a stolen car, we have to take them home. But, every once in a while…if they’re already on probation for stealing cars before, then usually then we can take them to the Juvenile Detention Center,’ Watkins says.
Hyundai and Kia are working on a patch to block the USB port from being able to start the cars up, but Watkins says, the roll out so far is slow-going.
If you see any suspicious activity in your neighborhood, Watkins says don’t hesitate to call 911, or CrimeStoppers at (309) 673-9000.
