Postal worker holdup leads to arrests in muscle car theft ring
Thieves are using cloned key fobs to steal muscle cars directly from dealerships in Michigan then selling them for tens of thousands of dollars less than their value out of state.
For one Ohio-based theft ring, it all came crashing down after a January holdup of a U.S. postal worker led authorities to connect several men to brazen car thefts in the Detroit area.
Investigators then discovered that new Chargers, Challengers, Durangos and Ram pickups worth $50,000 to $100,000 were turning up in Ohio, Indianapolis and East Coast shipping ports after being sold on the street for $3,500 to $15,000, according to a criminal complaint.
Thieves in metro Detroit were going after Dodge vehicles with Hellcat engines, including Chargers and Challengers — "the fast ones," Sgt. Jerry Hanna with the Macomb Auto Theft Squad said. Dodge's parent company Stellantis announced earlier this year that it would discontinue the Charger and Challenger to make way for electric versions.
Muscle cars like the Charger and Challenger represent a unique style of high-performance vehicles popularized by U.S. automakers in the 1950s and marketed for their powerful engines and sporty design.
Thieves' tools
Muscle cars are typically two-door vehicles with lightweight bodies designed to help the car go fast. Americans' interest with muscle cars surged in the 1960s with the popularity of drag racing and as more customers purchased cars like the Pontiac GTO, Ford Mustang and Plymouth Road Runner.
Thieves are using "pro pads" — a locksmith's tool that can clone keys by plugging into interior ports in the vehicles, according to the federal complaint in the Ohio case.
"If a patrol car gets them, they are not stopping and they're faster than patrol cars," Hanna said. "They're 150 mph all day."
About a half-dozen vehicles were stolen this year from parking lots in the metro Detroit area. More than a dozen Ford Mustangs were stolen in September alone from the automaker's assembly plant in Flat Rock, southeast of Detroit.
Postal worker holdup
Authorities weren't looking for stolen vehicles in January when they stopped Devin Rice after a postal worker in Shaker Heights, outside Cleveland, was robbed at gunpoint of a mailbox key. But court records show that a search of Rice's car and then his home turned up the keys from a Ram pickup, a Range Rover SUV and a Dodge with a Hellcat engine — all stolen.
Rice and other suspects were indicted in federal court in Ohio in June. Jaylen Harris, Lavelle Jones and Hakim Benjamin are charged with conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen vehicles. Rice, Harris and Jones also are charged with mail theft. Their trials are scheduled next year.
Harris' attorney declined comment. The AP left email and phone messages seeking comment from attorneys for Benjamin, Rice and Jones.
Authorities in Ohio first caught wind of the stolen vehicles two years ago during an uptick in reckless driving incidents in Ottawa County. After looking into the incidents, Ohio investigators learned the vehicles mostly were being stolen in the Detroit area and taken to Cleveland. Some also were destined for Memphis, Tennessee, said Capt. Aaron Leist of Ottawa County Sheriff's Department in Ohio.
"We started working with (Stellantis) in early 2022," he said. "They would call us and tell us 'We have these cars missing.'"
For dealerships and their insurance companies, the cost is high. Even recovered vehicles can't be sold for what they were once worth. Some dealerships have added extra security measures — including concrete barriers — to deter thieves.
Jeff Schneider, general manager at Szott Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in Highland Township, Michigan, said his dealership is using an "old school" method: parking boots.
"It's a deterrent that works amazingly," he said. "We put boots on all the Hellcats."
