JEFFERSON COUNTY, Mo. — The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a series of car thefts and rummaging through unlocked cars that happened over the weekend.
It happened in an Imperial neighborhood just off Highway 55.
Early Saturday morning Imperial resident Brad Bowen got a wake-up call he wasn’t expecting.
“The cops were at the door, an officer was at 3 a.m., and he said, ‘You need to come out. Somebody was going through your truck,’” Bowen said.
His Ring doorbell camera caught the thieves rummaging through his truck parked outside his house on Kensington Court. Luckily, he didn’t have anything of value in there, so they left empty-handed. This isn’t the first time this neighborhood has dealt with this pushing many of them to get cameras.
“It goes in spurts sometimes," Bowen said. "It happened probably two years ago, but it's just right off the highway. And there's a new subdivision over there. Everybody has got to be vigilant and lock their vehicles. That's the only way you can stop it."
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said a couple of streets over, a white Mazda SUV was stolen because the keys were left in the car. The suspects used it to try and get into other cars shortly after.
“If you care about other people's stuff, you know that insurance rates are going to go up with stolen vehicles and that's going to affect everybody," Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Matt Moore said. "Plus, stolen cars and guns are going to be used in other crimes. So it really affects everyone."
The thieves ended up abandoning the Mazda and leaving in a gray Chrysler 300 because of a watchful neighbor who saw them pulling on door handles and going through cars.
“My wife, she set the alarm off on the garage camera, and they went on down to the neighbors,” neighbor Mark Keene said. "And as soon as they heard the alarm, they had stolen another car, and they left it in front of the neighbor's house."
Data from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office shows 348 vehicles were stolen last year, and nearly a third of them had the keys inside. So far this year, 49 vehicles have been stolen, and almost half of them had the keys inside.
If you know anything about the suspect's car or have any additional information about what happened, you’re asked to call the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office at 636-797-5000.
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