Easy to Steal, But Tough to Prevent

A Ford truck is shown after a bust at a chop shop in Polk County. With pickups becoming harder to steal, some crooks are turning to stealing sport bikes. The parts alone can bring in up to $8,000. ( Photo courtesy Polk County Sheriff’s Office )

Published: Sunday, May 18, 2014 at 1:23 a.m.

Last Modified: Sunday, May 18, 2014 at 1:23 a.m.

Lots of Polk County folks love their Ford and Chevrolet trucks.

Unfortunately, so do thieves.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office reports 17 Ford F-150s and 17 Chevrolet Silverado 1500s were stolen between March 2013 and March of this year.

Honda motorcycles were even more popular with thieves: 18 disappeared in the same time frame.

Although the number of motor vehicle thefts in Polk County dropped from 1,634 in 2009 to 825 in 2013, that’s small consolation for the victims.

Dave Rice walked outside his house one Sunday morning to find his “child” was missing. He walked down the block in disbelief.

It was gone.

“I’ll probably never see it again; it’s in pieces,” he said.

Rice’s black-and-red 1986 Kawasaki 600 Ninja with a Kerker exhaust had been stolen in the night.

Rice, a 35-year-old employee at the Harley-Davidson of Lakeland dealership, bought the bike for $1,300 in September.

He said the Ninja 600 is similar to the bike Tom Cruise rode as Navy fighter pilot “Maverick” in the 1986 movie “Top Gun.” He said he planned to refurbish the bike to match the movie motorcycle perfectly.

“All I needed was a couple of stickers and a windshield, and I was ready to be Tom Cruise,” he said.

Most stolen motorcycles are sport bikes and often are used to carry drugs or commit other crimes, said Sgt. Mike Lewis of the Lakeland Police Department’s Property Crime Unit.

Sport bikes are popular for criminals and difficult for police cars to catch because they are so fast and maneuverable, Lewis said.

Some criminals take the motorcycles apart and sell the parts individually, which can yield up to $8,000, he said.

Sales of stolen bikes can cross county lines, he said, which makes it hard to track.

For example, a thief will take a motorcycle from Hillsborough County, put a license plate on it from a stolen bike in Orange County, spray-paint it and sell the redone bike in Polk County.

“Motorcycles are easy to steal … and vulnerable,” he said.

Owners can lower their chances of being victims by storing motorcycles in garages and attaching GPS devices. Lewis said GPS technology, digital keys and more have deterred criminals from stealing cars and have left them stealing motorcycles and older vehicles.

“Car thieves don’t care what kind of car you have,” he said. “A car’s a car.”

One advantage law enforcement has is a second, hidden Vehicle Identification Number etched into an inconspicuous location on every car and some motorcycles.

The location of the number changes every year for every make and model.

The National Insurance Crime Bureau has to be contacted for the locations of the secret VINs, Lewis said.

The second VINs are so well-hidden, he said, that many times officers have to put the vehicles on a lift or use a series of mirrors to find the numbers.

David Wyant, deputy chief with the Bartow Police Department, said that of 33 stolen vehicles last year in Bartow, Ford trucks were the most commonly taken, accounting for five cases.

Newer vehicles have security systems and design features that make it nearly impossible for criminals to break into vehicles without the keys, said Laura Bebb, co-owner of Joyce Automotive, a company that tows stolen vehicles for the LPD.

“With all of the new things they have now, it’s rare for us to tow a truly stolen vehicle without the keys,” she said.

Ben Brasch can be reached at ben.brasch@theledger.com or 863-802-7590. Follow Ben on Twitter @ben_brasch.

Easy to Steal, But Tough to Prevent