Dublin police accuse teens in 10 different stolen car cases
DUBLIN, Ohio (WCMH) -- After a months-long investigation, Dublin Police have linked two teenagers to ten different stolen vehicle cases.
Police say all of the stolen vehicles were Hyundai and Kia models. Dublin Police investigators say the teenagers were taking the vehicles from across Central Ohio, mostly Columbus and Whitehall areas. Then they were abandoning them in Dublin.
“Just be aware of what youth are doing in their spare time,” said Deputy Chief Greg Lattanzi of the Dublin Police Department.
Deputy Chief Lattanzi said in July officers began to notice a strange pattern.
“We recognized a pattern of vehicles, stolen vehicles, from other areas of Central Ohio that were being discarded here in the city of Dublin,” Lattanzi said.
He said from July to September, they found 10 abandoned stolen cars. They were all Hyundai and Kia models which in recent years has become a crime trend to steal due to a security defect.
“That led us to obviously leading an investigation about those vehicles and who was responsible,” Lattanzi said.
He said investigators used technology like flock cameras, undercover surveillance, and intel from other police departments. Deputy Chief Lattanzi said it led them to a 15-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy with connections to Dublin and other parts of central Ohio.
“They were using stolen vehicles to get from their place of residence to other areas of central Ohio,” Lattanzi said. “A search warrant executed on individuals' cell phones, and we were able to recover evidence off of those cell phones that tied these individuals to the particular crimes here in the City of Dublin.”
Dublin police are working with juvenile prosecutors to charge both teens with receiving stolen property.
“We would encourage parents to be cognizant of who they're associating with and what they're doing on their devices is certainly important to help be aware of what they may be doing after hours,” Lattanzi said.
Dublin police are giving away free steering wheel locks to Hyundai and Kia owners to prevent more thefts. Dublin police say in the last year they have given out hundreds of these steering wheel locks and have seen a decrease in thefts in Dublin.