CHARLOTTE — A south Charlotte man is warning others after his Dodge truck was stolen from his driveway on Wednesday. A security camera caught the thief taking his Dodge Ram 1500.
Channel 9′s Hunter Sáenz has reported several times on the rise in stolen Kias and Hyundais in Charlotte and across the country. Many of them have been found in high-speed chases or at the scene of other crimes.
But Sáenz has since learned about a new trend. Dodges are the third most stolen car in Charlotte, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
CMPD said just last year, 425 Dodges were stolen in the Queen City. Some were stripped for parts and others taken for joyrides by teenagers.
The most recent victim, Ryan Giust, had his truck stolen Wednesday around 4 a.m. The video shows someone jumping inside it and starting it up.
“Two others were kind of circling around -- just to make sure nobody was watching, I guess,” Giust said.
Moments later, those two other people are seen running and jumping inside the truck before it speeds off. It was a maddening thing for Giust to find out about when he woke up.
“Pretty angry and sad,” he said.
He said his neighborhood has been on alert about this type of crime for a while.
“We do see the car rummaging on a nightly basis,” Giust said. “We have a Facebook group here in the neighborhood and people post all the time.”
According to CMPD’s crime map, within the past five months, there have been 11 larcenies from cars and 12 stolen vehicles. All happened within a mile of Giust’s home in a neighborhood off Providence Road near McAlpine Creek Greenway.
Knowing that information, Giust said he almost always takes precautions.
“I lock my car 99.9999% of the time,” he said.
But, as he admits, the one time he forgot was when the crooks pounced.
“The one time I left it unlocked, I paid the price,” he said.
He’s now warning others to lock up and stay vigilant, no matter what.
“Just because we live in a neighborhood that’s well off the beaten path doesn’t mean you’re not susceptible to these problems we’re having in Charlotte as a whole,” Giust said.
CMPD found his Ram 1500 parked at an apartment complex in the Starmount neighborhood. There was a hoodie, wallet, and lighter inside, which did not belong to Giust. Police are processing the truck.
(WATCH BELOW: 3 teens face 91 charges involving stolen cars, CMPD says)
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