2 cities see car thefts on rise

In a two-month period, St. Petersburg's thefts rise by 72 percent, and Clearwater's double.

By LEANORA MINAI

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 9, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- Fred Mayer drives to Tyrone Square Mall every day for a double espresso.

Three weeks ago, he sipped a steaming cup on a bench facing the mall parking lot. When he went to find his 1993 Dodge Shadow, it was gone.

"I was probably out there when they were taking it," said Mayer, a 68-year-old retired chemistry teacher.

He forked over $20 for a taxi ride home to Seminole that day. Two days later, police recovered his car. The $500 stereo was missing.

Mayer is one of more than 400 victims so far this year to report a car stolen in St. Petersburg, where the rate of car thefts is rising as numbers decline in Florida and across the nation.

St. Petersburg youths, brazen and as young as 11, are blamed for many of the city's auto thefts, which increased nearly 72 percent during the first two months of this year compared with last year. St. Petersburg is not alone. Other communities in Pinellas County are grappling with the same problem. "It's spreading like wildfire through the school system," said St. Petersburg auto theft Detective Phil Quandt.

Around school, teens swap diagrams on how to pop steering wheel columns and start cars with sharp objects. A set of wheels means a Friday night joy ride or cash from stripping a car. Drug dealers and gang members also get in on the action, slipping kids $20 to steal cars for them.

Drivers also contribute to the problem. Slightly more than a quarter of the stolen cars last year in St. Petersburg were taken because owners left keys in the ignition.

Police in St. Petersburg, alarmed over the spike in auto thefts, are mobilizing. They're lobbying prosecutors for stiffer juvenile penalties, educating the public and recovering more stolen cars.

Florida ranks second in the nation for the total number of auto thefts, and Pinellas County is eighth in the state behind top-ranked Miami-Dade and fourth-ranked Hillsborough.

Car thieves have their favorite older model cars -- the Toyotas, Chevrolets and Saturns. The locks are easy to pick; some culprits get in and drive away in 60 seconds or less. Newer model vehicles, Honda Accords for example, have a system that keeps the car from starting unless it senses a computer chip embedded on the car's keys.

All models are not equal

In Tampa, Toyotas are hot; in St. Petersburg, it's the Saturns.

"Saturns started here," said St. Petersburg economic crimes Sgt. Russ Stewart. "Our trend is going to start showing up all over."

Cristi Bakewell knows. Her 1994 Saturn was stolen from Tyrone Square Mall, one area where the car theft rate is rising.

Fifteen cars were stolen from the parking lot from January to March 1; two were stolen during the same period last year.

After shopping and dinner at Ruby Tuesday's on March 10, Bakewell went to find her car at 9 p.m.

"I walked around in circles," said Bakewell, 34, of St. Petersburg.

A police officer approached her. "Is it a Saturn?" he asked. Earlier, police had arrested two boys, 14 and 15, for breaking into several Saturns in the lot. Bakewell's car was recovered three days later. It needed $1,600 in repairs.

The ignition was broken. The interior was trashed. Personal items, like prescription eyeglasses and vehicle registration papers, were missing. And the gas tank was bone dry.

"After going through all this, I just thought the kids who do this should have to go around with the victim to get the things missing replaced," said Bakewell, a kindergarten teacher.

Now, she locks her steering wheel with the Club.

Still, the thieves are resourceful.

In areas of Pinellas County, for example, they hit new car dealerships, where gleaming cars are rolled off flatbed trucks and left running, waiting to be parked.

"Somebody just walks out like they're part of the crew, and they drive off," said sheriff's Detective Wayne Schneider.

The Sheriff's Office had a slight dip in auto thefts -- 1,257 in 1998; 1,150 in 1999.

But in Clearwater, vehicle thefts doubled in January and February of this year compared to last -- 85 to 41.

Detectives from Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco and Manatee counties help each other. They brainstorm during monthly meetings of the Suncoast Auto Theft Intelligence Unit. The most common theme: Many offenders are kids and young adults, not members of organized rings.

"They steal them to get where they want to go, mainly from one point to another, but they don't hold on to them," Schneider said.

Authorities say that many times, a car stolen by a juvenile usually ends up in the hands of an adult who uses it to commit a crime before abandoning the car. Or a crack cocaine user will trade a stolen car for a fix.

Vincent Renzi, a state juvenile probation officer in St. Petersburg, said older teens with a record for auto theft are teaching younger kids how to steal cars.

"I have 14-year-old kids telling me how to get around these alarm systems," Renzi said. "If they put half the effort into school, they'd be getting straight A's."

Fearless youths see auto theft as nothing more than mischief, detectives say. They steal three and four cars a night. But death can result. Last year in St. Petersburg, 16-year-old Jacob Hood was behind the wheel of a stolen Chrysler when he ran a red light and killed Jason Hook, 26.

"They're not afraid, and they want to get that car for an evening of excitement or a little bit of money," Renzi said.

Stricter penalties sought

Probation officers and detectives want stricter penalties for first-time offenders, who are usually released from the Juvenile Detention Center in Largo the day of their arrest.

The authorities want automatic probation for first-timers and mandatory boot camp or driver's license suspension until age 21 for repeat offenders.

"That's something we're hoping the judges will take a look at," said Quandt, St. Petersburg's auto theft detective.

In schools, police officers are showing MTV-style videos to teenagers to teach them the consequences of auto theft. One video features a student who stole a car, wrecked it and was left paralyzed from the waist down.

Drivers also need to wise up and make it tougher on thieves.

When Stewart, St. Petersburg's economic crimes sergeant, considered all the ways cars are stolen, he said: "It just seems there's an auto thief behind every bush."

One St. Petersburg woman reported her 1997 Chevrolet Tahoe stolen after her father gave it to a man to clean. The man, responsible for four other car thefts, never brought the $34,000 truck back. It was later recovered at a motel on 34th Street S -- wrecked and the inside smelling of marijuana.

"I don't want it," said owner Jennifer Resto, 24, who plans to sell it. "God only knows what they did in that thing."

About 27 percent of car theft victims left keys in the ignition last year. Some also left engines running and hopped out to shop at convenience stores. Officers are posting notices in stores and on message boards around the city to warn residents not to leave their keys behind and the car running. Leaving keys in the ignition of an unattended vehicle is against the law, punishable by a $46 fine.

Despite the thefts, there is good news.

As quick as youths steal cars, St. Petersburg police are recovering them. The recovery rate in the city has remained in the mid- to high 80 percent range, said Maj. Reggie Oliver.

Officer David Horner gets part of the credit. Between emergency calls, he looks for stolen cars. Nicknamed "Tag Man," Horner found 257 stolen vehicles last year, and 116 in 1998. So far this year, he's found 62.

Usually, he finds the cars at drug holes or abandoned in alleys.

"They're sitting there, but you've got to find them," Horner said. "It's like hunting rabbits. You've got to kick the bushes."

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