On a late night in April, five bandits crept into the building of a Newnan car dealership and made off with keys to nine high-end Cadillac SUVs.
Within 24 hours, they were able to drive each of the pricey Escalades off the lot without incident, police said.
Last week, Atlanta police arrested two of the alleged Caddy-burglars and reclaimed four of the vehicles, along with another one stolen from Pennsylvania, authorities said.
"Unfortunately for them, we got the clue that they were stolen with our expertise and training," said Atlanta Police Det. Stephen O'Hare, a member of the department's auto theft unit.
Byron Sharpe, 26, and Steve Williams, 35, were arrested last Tuesday evening while driving a pair of Cadillac Escalades on Dill Avenue near Metropolitan Parkway.
Coweta County sheriff's deputies already had alerted area police of the thefts, so Atlanta cops had their eyes peeled for anything suspicious in these types of vehicles.
The champagne-colored EXT model -- a kind of hybrid pick-up SUV -- and another extra-long silver Caddy had Pennsylvania dealership tags that O'Hare said were fishy.
"The tags didn't register to any dealership that existed," he said.
A third black Escalade with DVD players and soft leather seats was found on the back of a transport truck bound for parts north of here, while Coweta County officers located two more of the expensive SUVs stowed away in storage spaces less than a mile from Southtowne Motors of Newnan, where they had been stolen from, police said.
Coweta sheriff's deputies have an arrest warrant out for a third man and are looking for two more.
In all, police were able to recover more than $200,000 worth of vehicles, although five more that were stolen locally are still unaccounted for, O'Hare said.
Sharpe was charged with altering and removing VIN numbers, concealing vehicle IDs, transporting stolen autos and bringing stolen property to Georgia (police believe the suspects drove the stolen EXT down to steal the other vehicles). According to Fulton County jail records, Sharpe was released Friday on $105,000 bond.
Williams also was apparently released Friday on $74,000 bond after being charged with bringing stolen property to Georgia, transporting a stolen vehicle, removing vehicle ID numbers, lying about his identity, possession of a vehicle with an altered VIN and driving with a suspended license.
This crew of bandits already had swapped out the vehicle identification numbers on two of the Newnan vehicles and they were being shipped to Pennsylvania, police said.
This caper is just one of many in a growing and seemingly rejuvenated trend of high-end auto thefts, O'Hare said.
"Two years ago, we were getting maybe 20 of these a year," he said. "We're going to end up tripling that number by the end of this year."
The Highway Data Loss Institute marked Escalades as the most stolen vehicle from 2007 to 2009, and the vehicle held that dubious distinction six out of the past seven years with average yearly losses reportedly more than seven times the average for all passenger vehicles.
According to the AOL financial web magazine www.dailyfinance.com, Ford F-250 crew pick-ups, Infiniti G-37 sport sedans and Dodge Chargers with the high-powered HEMI engine followed Escalades in most sought-after vehicles by car thieves.
"Sedate family cars and fuel sippers aren't on the hot list," Kim Hazelbaker, senior vice president of the Highway Data Loss Institute, said in a 2010 Daily Finance article. "Thieves are after chrome, horsepower and HEMIs."
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