At 6 a.m. in early December, an unlabeled white tow truck cruised into Jesse Roller’s Chino neighborhood. Roller had saved up for four years to buy his prized Cadillac CTS-V coupe, and in 30 seconds, it was gone.
The tow truck driver stopped in front of the car, latched on using a self-loading lift and drove away without ever leaving the truck. The theft of Roller’s car is part of a pattern in which vehicles have been snatched from driveways and neighborhood curbs across San Bernardino County, stretching back for nearly a year.
“I spent three hours calling the surrounding police stations … saying, ‘Hey, did you guys tow this vehicle?’ and they all said ‘No,’” Roller said. “That’s how I knew it wasn’t a mistaken [repossession]. My car was just gone.”
In Southern California, repossession of a car whose owner is behind on loan payments is not uncommon. But companies are legally required to report the tow to police. Victims with whom The Times spoke said that their cars were not behind on payments, and that local police initially had no knowledge of their cars’ whereabouts.
San Bernardino County sheriff’s officials told The Times in a statement that they were aware of thefts using a white tow truck in their jurisdiction and confirmed reports of the crime in neighboring counties. The department also said it had elevated the case to a specialized division that was conducting an investigation.
“At first I thought it was just me, but then I went online and saw that it’s happening to so many people,” Roller said. “My friend told me that he saw the same white tow truck driving around his neighborhood in Chino, too. This thief is just out there.”
On Facebook, residents from Rancho Cucamonga to Victorville have shared video of of luxury cars and Toyota and Chevrolet trucks being towed from in front of their homes in incidents that date back to at least March and as recently as New Year’s Day. The videos all show a tow truck pulling into a driveway or along a curb and quietly leaving with a vehicle.
Adelanto resident Adrian Medina said he was in shock after his Chevrolet Camaro disappeared from his street in early November. After posting his surveillance video of the theft on Facebook, he said he received an outpouring of messages from San Bernardino County community members sharing identical stories.
“I didn’t even know this was happening until it happened to me. Somebody needs to stop this guy because, from what I can see, it’s been going on since early last year, and it seems like it’s increasing,” Medina said.
In interviews with The Times, many victims of the thefts reported no updates on their missing-vehicle reports. But Roller said his was found — in pieces. Police called about a week after his report, notifying him that his Cadillac was spotted by license plate scanners in Compton and directed him to a tow yard where it was stored. Ecstatic, he made the nearly hourlong drive with a family member only to discover that the car had been stripped for parts.
“I went to the tow yard, and that’s when they said, ‘It’s been completely stripped.’ I go look at it and it was just completely destroyed,” Roller said. “I mean, they even took the seats. Literally everything was gone but the shell. I was heartbroken.”
San Bernardino resident April Zavala said her car was stolen around midnight one night in March by a white tow truck. She says police still haven’t given her any information on progress in the investigation into the theft.
“The only way I know it was a tow truck was because of our home cameras. It’s the same strategy, backing up and taking the car in minutes,” Zavala said. “I think that it’s an auto theft ring.”
Authorities said that they were not ruling out organized crime in the investigation.
Zavala said she had some of her late mother’s possessions in her car when it was stolen, and that’s “what hurt the most.”
“That went with it,” Zavala said. “I just want the people that are doing this caught. It takes a lot out of you when they take something that you worked hard for.”
Anyone with information on the thefts is asked to report to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department online or at (909) 384-5742.
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