Yahoo Autos 3 Men Arrested for Allegedly Stealing $600,000 Worth of Hellcats
The California Attorney General's Office has announced they are charging three men allegedly involved in a car theft ring. The suspects focused primarily on Hellcat-powered Dodge vehicles, and are charged with stealing 13 of them between July 2023 and March 2024. The value of the vehicles stolen reportedly tops $600,000.
The California Department of Justice Special Prosecution Section filed charges in El Dorado County against the men. The charges include felony conspiracy, vehicle theft, possession of stolen vehicle, vandalism, receipt of stolen property and operating a chop shop.
The brazen thieves would not only steal these high-profile vehicles, but they would then brag about their exploits on social media, according to the 26-count criminal complaint. And quite bluntly, too: the report says one of the suspects uploaded a video of himself with a maroon Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk at a gas station when he states, “we stole this bitch.” Later in the video, an unknown person approaches the suspect and is offered the Trackhawk for $3,000, according to the complaint.
While that encounter may have involved a Hellcat-powered Jeep, it was the Dodge Challenger and Charger that the suspects stole most often, according to the complaint – and they would reportedly steal them from private citizens as well as from several local dealerships. Some of the higher value vehicles stolen include a blue 2015 Dodge Challenger Hellcat worth about $49,000, a 2020 Charger Hellcat worth about $60,000 and a red 2016 Challenger Hellcat worth an estimated $75,000.
Listed in the complaint are 65 similar overt acts where the defendants would post video clips of the thefts in progress on Instagram or Snapchat. I, for one, am glad the suspects have been arrested, but it is surprising they managed to elude capture for as long as they did... considering they seemed to do everything they could to ensure they'd get caught.
You Might Also Like
