Tips Lead To Arrest Of Brazen Car Thief
FT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – A brazen thief, who police say stole a Mercedes Benz from a Ft. Lauderdale repair facility in broad daylight, has been arrested.
The whole thing was captured on camera. After Ft. Lauderdale police released the surveillance video in October, tips poured in that eventually led to the arrest of a juvenile male from Pompano Beach. He has been charged with one count of Grand Theft Auto.
The theft took place September 25th just before 3 p.m. at the Mercedes Benz Body Shop, located at 122 Southwest 22nd Street.
The suspect, who looked to be in his late teens, walked into the main bay of the body shop and asked an employee about the types of body work the company does. The employee told him to go to the office for a complete listing.
The would-be car thief then left the shop area and wandered around the parking lot.
Based on the surveillance footage, detectives have learned that the teen eventually returned to the business through a different entrance, and discovered a set of keys lying on the roof of a customer's vehicle. He reportedly ran towards the vehicle, jumped into the driver seat and backed the vehicle out of the shop and took off.
An employee, who was crouched down working on the rear passenger side of this same vehicle, heard the sound of the engine and quickly jumped out-of-the-way.
The suspect fled in a 2011 black 4-door Mercedes C300, bearing Florida license plate number ALCL37.
