Prince George's Car Thieves Also Steal Sense of Control

The psychological impact of having a car stolen is often greater than the financial loss and inconvenience, experts said.

Beverly, who works for the U.S. Postal Service, said he has found himself daydreaming about catching up with the car thief in a dark alley and still follows cars that look like his.

"The first night, I was driving down Florida Avenue and I saw a car that looked like mine and I made a U-turn and chased after it," he said. "When I got close, I saw that it wasn't mine. But I've found myself doing that every day since the car was stolen."

It's not an unusual reaction, said county Public Safety Director Vernon R. Herron.

"People feel violated," said Herron, a former Maryland State Police trooper. "For somebody to come along who hasn't worked as hard as we have and take a 10-cent screwdriver and steal our car makes people very upset."

Police Maj. Markus Summers, commander of the 3rd District, where Beverly lives, said the thefts leave victims feeling unsafe.

"They feel like, 'What are they going to do next, break into my house?' " he said. "Your car is like your house -- you spend a considerable amount of time there."

The recent theft rattled Beverly because it was "so blatant." It occurred on a Sunday afternoon on a busy residential street where state Sen. Ulysses Currie (D) lives while several people were outside doing yardwork or playing with children.

Beverly said he was nodding off on his living room sofa, only a few yards away, as a handyman installed a fan in his bathroom. Had his drapes not been drawn, he would have seen the culprit.

When the handyman asked him to retrieve a tool from outside, he discovered the theft.

"I looked up the street in one direction, then down the street in the other direction, as if looking would make the car appear," Beverly said. "I couldn't believe anybody would be that bold."

Mary Broady, who lives across the street from Beverly, said her pickup was stolen a month ago about 4 a.m. when thieves pulled into her driveway and hooked it to a stolen tow truck.

"I heard a loud thump," Broady, 78, said. "I looked out and saw the tow truck. It didn't matter that there were lights. They were just bold. They came right up in my driveway. Can you imagine that?"

Police are aware of the method. Charles County Sheriff's Department detectives, investigating complaints of tow trucks stealing older cars from parking lots, recently arrested an Upper Marlboro tow company owner and charged him with possession of stolen vehicles.

It seems that everybody has a stolen car story. The state's attorney in Prince George's, Glenn F. Ivey, had his van stolen. The car of a prominent minister, the Rev. Paul A. Wells of New Revival Kingdom Church in Forestville, was snatched as he preached at a funeral service.

The car of AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman John B. Townsend II was stolen Thanksgiving week after a car accident as it sat wrecked, with the wheel secured in a lock, tires flat, in Landover.

That's why Beverly bristled over Johnson's optimistic statement last week. "All of us who have had a car stolen know that they are still being stolen a lot. He shouldn't be out there trying to make people think this isn't a big issue, because it is."