"The manufacturer has made them easy for children to steal," a police spokesman said amid an outbreak of Dodge thefts.
By CANDACE RONDEAUX and CHRIS TISCH
Published December 30, 2003
TARPON SPRINGS - As police in North Pinellas track a rash of thefts involving Dodge trucks and vans, Tarpon Springs officers Friday charged four boys in three such cases.
Tarpon Springs police said the boys, aged 12 to 15, tried to steal a 1997 green Dodge Ram pickup truck at Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital Friday night. They started the truck's engine after prying off the ignition with a screwdriver, police said. Their first effort failed, however, after the truck's steering column overheated and began to smoke.
When officers arrived at the hospital a few minutes later, the thieves were nowhere in sight. Police began searching the neighborhood and local businesses for them.
About 20 minutes later, Tarpon Springs Police Officer Clyde Thornton found the boys hunched down in a 1993 blue Dodge Caravan near Seascape Condominiums at 1400 Curlew Place. A check on the vehicle revealed that the van had been stolen in Clearwater the same day.
Police said the four boys were also linked to the attempted theft of the truck at the hospital and the theft of a white 1991 Dodge van that was reported stolen around 12:55 p.m. Friday.
The suspects include a 15-year-old from Dunedin, a 14-year-old from Largo and two Tarpon Springs boys ages 12 and 14. The St. Petersburg Times is withholding the boys' names because of their ages.
Police charged the boys with two counts of grand theft auto, attempted grand theft auto, burglary to a vehicle and possession of burglarly tools. They were taken to Pinellas County Juvenile Assessment Center on Friday.
Clearwater police said they have seen a surge in Dodge thefts in recent months, mainly because kids find it easy to break into the vehicles. All it takes is a screw driver, said police spokesman Wayne Shelor.
"We have seen a definable, marked increase in the theft of these vehicles made by this manufacturer," Shelor said. "And in recent months we've been seeing juveniles - and by juveniles I'm talking about people too young to get a driver's license - clamor into a big, old Dodge Ram, using a screw driver to simply break in."
Shelor said kids often steal the vehicles, then "drive them until they wreck them." He said in one recent case, kids stole a couple of Dodges, then rammed each other in a demolition derby.
"They're easier than just about any other vehicle," Shelor said. "You can steal a car with a screwdriver. The manufacturer has made them easy for children to steal."
Officials with Largo police and the Pinellas Sheriff's Office say they have not seen a recent increase in Dodge thefts.
Dodges show up in some studies of the most commonly stolen vehicles in the country, but not in others.
Dodges didn't show up in the top 10 of the National Insurance Crime Bureau's study of most commonly stolen cars of 2001. The Toyota Camry was tops on that list, followed by the Accord and Civic, both by Honda. That study does not factor in model years, however.
The NICB top 100 list did put the Dodge Caravan at No. 11, the Ram pickup at No. 30, the Dodge Intrepid at No. 34, the Dodge Stratus at No. 55, the Dodge Dakota at No. 78, the Dodge Spirit at No. 79, the Dodge Shadow at No. 81 and the Dodge Dynasty at No. 86.
Another list from CCC Information Services Inc. does not include any Dodges in its top 10.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration list, however, puts the Intrepid No. 2 on its list, the Dodge Neon No. 6 and the Stratus No. 7.
Another study by the Highway Loss Data Institute, which examined only 2000 to 2002 model-year vehicles, found the Intrepid, Stratus and Ram 1500 in the top 10 stolen vehicles.
The Stratus was the second most commonly stolen auto (behind the Cadillac Escalade) with 8.7 thefts per 1,000 insured vehicle years. The Intrepid was sixth with 5.8 thefts, the Ram 1500 eighth with 5.6 thefts. The average for all vehicles is 2.6 thefts per 1,000 vehicle years, the study found.
