A Chevrolet dealership in Louisiana has lost 124 wheels in what police are calling an “organized” and “professional” heist.
It’s a sad day at Matt Bowers Chevrolet dealership in Slidell, Louisiana. After getting to work in the early hours of Sunday morning, employees noticed a very strange thing: dozens of vehicles were placed up on wooden blocks and were missing their wheels. In all, 31 vehicles, including Blazers, Silverados, and Malibus, had their alloy wheels stolen with only the lug nuts lying the on the concrete to prove they ever had wheels to begin with.
This was no whimsical attack on a local car dealership. According to Slidell Police, the thieves were organized and professional, arriving in the early hours of Saturday morning to avoid being seen. Two suspects arrived in a U-Haul van, defeated the locks, and then made their way to the main administrative building to turn off the lights and security cameras. Then in just 40 minutes they’d removed wheels from 31 vehicles, stowed them in the U-Haul, and drove off.
The thieves specifically targeted larger wheels which are usually made of aluminum and were bigger than 20-inches. These wheels are expensive, with the stolen goods estimated to cost over $120,000.
Police believe this to be part of a larger wheel-theft ring as it mirrors heists performed in Texas and Oklahoma. There are no identifying markings on the wheels to identify which dealership they came from, so it’s impossible to determine where the wheels were sourced.
However, the thieves were not perfect. Security footage did catch them on digital film as they entered the lot and drove up in their U-Haul. Sadly, the footage doesn’t show much other than what appears to be two male suspects of average height and build. The footage doesn’t even catch the U-Haul’s license plate so that police can track it down.
The owner of Matt Bowers Chevy Dealership is offering a reward of $25,000 for any information leading to the capture of these two suspects.