Thieves Steal $1.2 Million Worth of Cars (Including a Rare Dodge) Using a Rock and Laptop
A $160,000 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 was among the vehicles stolen from Alabama dealership.
Eight cars, including a rare 2023 Dodge Challenger Demon SRT 170 valued at $158,000, were stolen from the North County Ford dealership in Arab, Alabama, and investigators are still trying to piece the whole thing together. AL.com news reports that two of the vehicles—a Jeep Wagoneer and Ford Bronco Raptor—have since been recovered. The Wagoneer was found near Blountsville and the Bronco Raptor was found at an apartment complex in Bessemer.
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While they aren’t Fort Knox, generally speaking car dealerships have very robust security measures in place. It’s not uncommon for a large dealership like North County Ford to have millions of dollars in inventory on its lot at any given time, so major security measures are a must. With that being said, how did these criminals manage to get past North County Ford’s extensive camera system, alarms, and the individual alarms of each vehicle they stole? Well, it all started with a rock.
According to the report, at 12:28 am on April 9, the thieves used a rock to break a window in the service bay to enter the main building. Once inside, they found the security camera hub, turned off all the cameras and erased several hours of footage.
The dealership said the thieves plugged a laptop into the key safe and managed to hack it open like a scene out of a '90s heist film. They stole 330 keys from the safe and put them all in a bag. Since many modern cars use keyless entry and have push button start, the thieves simply jumped into different cars with the key bag in hand, started each of the eight cars, and drove them off the lot.
The only physical evidence left behind was broken glass from the window found by the cleaning crew in the later morning hours.
North County Dodge is now going through the tedious task of reprogramming replacements for all the keys that were stolen but have taken to Facebook to appeal to the thieves for their return. Offering a $10,000 reward for the return of the keys “no questions asked.”
Local police and the FBI are on the case and hunting for the thieves and the remaining six vehicles, including the 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170. If the Nicolas Cage film Gone in 60 Seconds has taught us anything, it’s that the police should be checking shipping docks or a wrecking yard and looking for a well-dressed crime lord with an unplaceable accent.
Jokes aside, anyone with information that could help law enforcement find the thieves or the missing vehicles is being asked to contact Arab police at (256) 586-8124.
Andrew Beckford’s passion for cars started as a middle schooler when his friend Richie explained how an internal combustion engine works. He was bitten by the bug and the rest, as they say, is history. He dug deep into the tuner scene and eventually wrote for Turbo Magazine, Import Tuner, Super Street. He covered car shows, feature builds, and reviewed racing games for those magazines in addition to covering motorsports including Formula Drift, Indy Car, and F1 for his personal blog. Eventually Beckford joined MotorTrend to cover the daily automotive news beat. Besides being a gearhead, Beckford has been a gamer since the ’80s and is a huge fan of the arcade racing games of the ’90s like Daytona USA, SEGA Rally, and Ridge Racer. Beckford’s a movie buff as well, especially comic book films from DC and Marvel. When car culture crosses over with gaming and entertainment, rest assured Beckford is aware of it. In addition to serving as a consultant on a “triple A” racing titles, he’s reviewed major racing games such as Forza Motorsport, Need for Speed, Gran Turismo, F1, and more. He’s also interviewed blockbuster directors including Steven Caple Jr. (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts) and Neill Blomkamp (Gran Turismo). His biggest profile to date was with Robert Downey Jr. on his love affair with cars and his show Downey’s Dream Cars on MAX. Beckford’s profile of Downey Jr. was the first print cover story written by an African American in MotorTrend’s history. Along with KJ Jones, Andrew Beckford also heads up MotorTrend’s celebration of Black History Month by spotlighting diverse voices in the automotive industry and motorsports. Beckford’s first car was a 1982 Nissan Stanza affectionately named “Stanley” by his late mother.
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