Pr. George's Targets Auto Thefts

"Cars are our second biggest investment. They cost $20,000, $30,000, $40,000 or more," said State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey, himself a car theft victim. "If someone walked into a store and stole $40,000, people would take it seriously. If we're going to turn the numbers around with auto theft, we've got to take it just as seriously."

While most of the thefts are the work of amateurs, authorities say they believe professional thieves are involved in about a third of the cases. These thieves could have links to organized crime and might use the profits to support drug dealing or other illegal activities, authorities said.

About 500 stolen vehicles a month are never recovered, authorities say. They believe these vehicles have been shipped offshore, replated and sold, or broken down in chop shops for parts.

"Car theft is a $2 million-a-week problem for the county," said Prince George's Circuit Court Judge C. Philip Nichols Jr., citing the cost to the insurance industry.

The crackdown on auto theft also includes a public education campaign that imparts information such as the fact that one-third of stolen vehicles had been left idling.

Detectives from the Bowie strike force found 36 vehicles that had been left running in a 90-minute check last month in the Kettering-Largo area, a hotbed of auto theft. Police soon will begin issuing $55 tickets to people who leave vehicles idling.

Police also have partnered with other jurisdictions. Prince George's police last month cooperated with the Charles County Sheriff's Office in an investigation of tow truck company owners along the counties' border.

Derrick Leftridge, 34, owner of Just Say Towing in Upper Marlboro, was arrested April 28 at the Baltimore Scrap Corp. after he tried to sell two stolen cars for a salvage fee. Authorities said Leftridge is being investigated in connection with an alleged ring that uses tow trucks to steal cars. Leftridge said he bought the 1980s-model cars legally and did not know they were stolen.

Wednesday's search at the repair shop was prompted by tips gleaned during an investigation by the Bowie auto theft detail into an alleged car theft ring in central Prince George's. One of the suspects recently showed police the location of 14 vehicles he said he and his accomplices had stolen. An arrest of two suspects last month led to a 33 percent drop in car thefts in the area where they operated, said Detective Charles Brew, supervisor of the Bowie unit.

The search of the auto repair shop resulted in no arrests, but authorities are examining documents found there that are linked to members of a suspected car theft ring. A recently repainted sport-utility vehicle was impounded because the vehicle identification stickers and federal safety stickers were not positioned as they should be. The origin of two other cars at the shop also is being investigated.

A man who identified himself as a co-owner of the shop said in an interview Friday that he ran a legitimate business and that no illegal activity occurred there. He said the impounded SUV was his personal vehicle and that the stickers had been removed when it was repainted. He declined to give his name, citing concern that publicity would hurt his business.