Popular pickup truck targeted by thieves in NC foothills

LENOIR, N.C. — Officials said a group is stealing Ford F-250’s right off of car lots in the North Carolina foothills.

In one case at Auto World of Lenoir, a thief is seen wearing gloves and a mask while stealing a red Ford pickup truck. He drove right by one of more than a dozen surveillance cameras at the business with the $20,000 truck.

Officials said the trucks are easier to steal because they’re older Fords, between the years 2003 to 2007. Those models didn’t have the keys with computer chips to start them up.

"The word on the street is they're pretty easy to steal, so we're going to try to slow that down if we can,” Chad Ester, with Auto World, said.

Just a few miles away, Bo Keever, who owns the Hibriten Auto Mart, had two Ford F-250's stolen this week.

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He said the thief actually returned one of the diesel trucks to steal another one equipped with leather seats.

"It's actually a good question on whether they're going to gather these things up and ship them out of here, or they're going to dismount them and piece them out,” Keever said.

Keever bought several wheel locks and installed them on his Ford trucks, but the thieves cut through the driver wheel and removed the safety device.

At the Lenoir Police Department, investigators from the DMV, Hickory and Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office met on Wednesday.

"Compare notes and try to work with each other to combat this,” Lt. Mark Barlowe said.

Police said they are investigating eight thefts in the last few weeks.

Meanwhile, businesses are doing everything possible to keep from being a target.

"Got a fence coming. Now we're barricading. We've got lights and cameras,” Ester said.

"I hope we find them and eventually we will. We're going to figure out a way to get them,” Keever said.

Police said they are also stepping up patrols around the businesses.

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