ARAB, Ala. — A northern Alabama automobile dealership had eight luxury vehicles worth more than $1.2 million stolen over the weekend, along with 330 car keys.
The vehicles were stolen from North Country Ford in Arab during the early Sunday burglary, with one of them -- a 2023 Dodge Challenger Demon truck -- carrying a price tag of $158,000, AL.com reported.
Two vehicles have been recovered but six are still missing, according to WHNT-TV. One vehicle, a Jeep Wagoneer, was recovered near Blountsville, while a Ford Bronco Raptor was found in a Bessemer apartment complex, AL.com reported.
General Manager Greg Anthony called the theft the most sophisticated in his 30 years of selling vehicles.
“Not this big, nothing to the magnitude of this,” Anthony told AL.com.
Technicians and locksmiths are still working to replace and reprogram the 330 keys belonging to the vehicles on the lot, WHNT reported.
According to the Arab Police Department, the suspects threw a rock in the dealership’s service bay at about 12:28 a.m. CDT, according to the television station. Police said the thieves turned off and erased several hours of surveillance video, then plugged a computer into the dealership’s key safe. After unlocking the safe, the thieves took all of the keys, WHNT reported.
“We are still trying to determine how they got the camera system to stop working,” Arab police Chief Shane Washburn told AL.com.
Anthony said the Challenger Demon was driven out of the dealership’s lobby through a bay door, WHNT reported. The thefts were not discovered until a cleaning crew arrived early Monday.
Over $1 million in inventory taken from Arab car dealership, police still looking for vehicles https://t.co/5GmUPQVRkD
— News 19 (@whnt) April 9, 2024
“It’s just a loss of income of being able to sell these cars, especially the limited production cars and you can take every measure you can, but a thief is a thief,” Anthony told the television station. “They’re going to get a car regardless of what you do. Any measure you put in place they’re going to overcome them, just like our camera system and our key security system. Even cars inside the dealership.
“They’re brave, they don’t care. They’ll come inside and take anything they want of value.”
The dealership took to social media to offer a $10,000 cash reward for the return of the keys.
© 2024 Cox Media Group
