“We had K-9s from the county and city on their track for two hours,” Sheriff’s Detective Beth Brall said. “They just never caught up with them.”
Around 1:30 am, a deputy was checking on the dealerships in the township when he spotted an SUV in the lot of Lang Chevrolet that was up on blocks, missing its wheels, according to police. The deputy spotted a pickup truck leaving through the back of the lot and followed.
“When he lit them up (with a spotlight), they took off,” Brall said. At one point on Shakertown Road, the pickup went off the road, over-corrected and hit the sheriff’s cruiser, Brall said.
Brall said the 1990 Chevy Silverado pickup was reported stolen in Dayton on Saturday. The plates on the truck were reported stolen in Beavercreek. The suspects left behind the tires in the dealership lot.
Brall said there have been similar thefts at Dayton-area dealerships. “In the past 12 months, thousand of dollars in tires have been stolen.”
Last month, thieves hit Interstate Ford in Miamisburg, stealing 88 tires worth around $50,000. When workers arrived to open the dealership on a Monday, they found more than 20 vehicles up on cinderblocks and missing their wheels. The thieves left behind a tire iron and a receipt from a Walmart for the purchase of the tool.
Brall has contacted her colleagues in Miamisburg to see if there is a connection. Miamisburg police did not respond to call seeking comment.
Earlier this year in Arlington Heights, Ill., a Chicago suburb, police recovered more than $300,000 in tires and rims stolen from dealerships in Illinois and Wisconsin, according to local media reports.
Brall said she just finished up an investigation that led to the conviction of a local man for similar thefts. Jesse W. Spurlock, 39, of Dayton is awaiting sentencing Nov. 21 after pleading guilty to to breaking and entering and possessing criminal tools, both fifth-degree felonies, according to Greene County Common Pleas court records. He was caught stealing high-end hubcaps at a township Cadillac dealership. He remains free on $20,000 bond.
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