Teens use stolen truck to smash cars

By TIMES STAFF WRITER
Published August 5, 2006

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TAMPA - Two teens drove a stolen Ford F-150 pickup truck into a North Tampa apartment and condominium complex and smashed into several parked vehicles before taking off on foot Friday morning.

The damage, which happened inside the Landings at 10034 Stratford Oak Drive, appeared to be intentional and targeted towards "mostly higher-end vehicles like a Jaguar, BMW, those kinds of cars," Hillsborough County sheriff's Maj. Ron Spiller said.

Seven cars were smashed, "plus the pickup truck was a mess," for an estimated $50,000 in damages.

The two stole the pickup from Marbrisa Apartments at 4949 Marbrisa Drive off of Gunn Highway and drove into the Landings around 6 a.m.

Spiller said tires were slashed on about 40 vehicles inside Marbrisa, but the connection to the Landings incident was not confirmed.

Witnesses were unable to provide much in the way of detailed information about the two.

They were described two males in their mid to late teens.

A helicopter and dogs were unable to track down the two, who were still at large late Friday.

Anyone with information was asked to call the sheriff's District 3 office at (813) 247-0330.