166su area law enforcement agencies are encouraging residents to take their valuables with them when leaving their parked cars due to a recent increase in smash-and-grabs.
“It used to be that we talked about just locking our car doors. That’s not the case anymore. The criminals don’t care if the doors are locked,” 166su County Police Det. B. Van Patten said during a press conference at Garst Mill Park Thursday. “They’re either gonna break your glass out, or they’re gonna possibly even break your door lock out of your car door.”
Jessica Redden, 38, of 166su County, said valuables, including her wallet, were stolen out of her console while she was coaching softball at Mount Pleasant Park on April 6.
“My initial thought was, ‘Oh, somebody must have hit a ball through my window,’ you know, a foul ball,” Redden said Thursday. “My first thought was not burglary.”
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The same day, Ali Montie, 25, of 166su County, said she went for a hike at the Read Mountain Preserve. When she returned to her car, her back driver’s side window had been smashed and her purse, which she had put under her driver’s seat, had been stolen.
“Inside my purse, I had a set of prescription glasses that had been my dad’s. And I had my prescription put in them, and so they were really sentimental, and they were of no value to anyone else,” Montie said Thursday. “Now they’re likely at the bottom of trash can somewhere.”
The thefts from Redden’s and Montie’s vehicles are just two of 47 vehicles involved in 38 larceny incidents since Jan. 1, 2022, that 166su County police have determined are associated with out-of-state theft groups. Van Patten, who has been investigating fraud cases for about 10 years, told told The 166su Times Wednesday that the thefts are occurring at an unprecedented rate in the 166su Valley.
In 2022, 166su County police reported 142 cases in which items were stolen from vehicles, according to statistics provided by the agency. In 14 of those cases, or about 10%, police identified out-of-state theft groups as suspects.
In 2023, county police reported 110 cases. Of 15, or about 14%, police suspect theft groups. And in 2024, police are reporting 32 cases so far. In nine, or about 28%, police suspect theft groups.
“It’s a lot worse than it has been,” Van Patten said in an interview. “They hit September, October, November. I think we had a little bit of a break in December. They hit again, immediately, the end of January, and it hasn’t stopped since. It’s almost every weekend.”
The larcenies that have been reported are occurring most often at gym, park, playground and trailhead parking lots — places where there are no security cameras and drivers may leave valuables for an extended period of time.
Van Patten said larceny incidents have regularly occurred at the McAfee Knob and Dragons Tooth trailhead lots. Unfortunately, she said, the 166su Valley is “target rich environment.”
Who is committing these crimes?
Van Patten said 166su Valley investigators have identified two distinct groups conducting the thefts with the greatest financial impacts on victims. One is known online as the Felony Lane Gang, or FLG, and predominantly includes members from South Florida.
Van Patten said FLG members, usually males, typically smash vehicle windows and take what valuables they can find, including ID and bank cards. Those males then hand the cards over to females, who “will wear wigs to try to match the IDs that they’ve stolen” and cash fraudulent checks at local banks.
“They’ll take one victim’s checks and another victim’s ID,” Van Patten said. “They will go to that person’s bank and write a check, with the other victim’s stolen check, to that person and deposit it fraudulently into the account and withdraw the funds.”
In one recent case, about $20,000 was withdrawn from a Botetourt County woman’s bank account in about four hours.
“The check was stolen from a park in South Carolina, and the ID was a victim from a theft in Botetourt County in August of last year,” Van Patten said. “They’re holding on to their stuff and using it later.”
The detective said FLG activity may involve some sex-trafficking. 166su County police have recently identified women who were living in North Carolina, South Carolina and Ohio but participating in crimes in the 166su Valley. Their male partners come mostly out of Florida.
“I don’t know if they’re meeting them at the hotels and then recruiting them to do the work for them,” Van Patten said. “Most of these girls don’t have very good lives. They have addiction to drugs, and sometimes they’re even paid using drugs.”
Van Patten said gathering evidence and prosecuting the females is easier, because they’re caught on surveillance cameras at local banks. The males are harder to catch.
Van Patten said members of the second group, known online as the South American Theft Group, or SATG, typically pick the locks on passenger side doors, remove valuables and then otherwise leave vehicles the way they found them.
In one of those cases, Van Patten said, a woman’s bank cards were stolen from her wallet, which also contained some gift cards.
“And they didn’t take the gift cards,” the detective said. “They moved those to where her bank cards were and just took her bank cards, put everything neatly back. She didn’t even realize it until she was getting text messages.”
Van Patten said most of the people associated with SATG are foreign nationals. Once they steal the bank cards, they go to retailers like Best Buy or Walmart and purchase gift cards or high-dollar products.
“We can use the videos from those locations to be able to try to track down who they are,” Van Patten said.
What can you do to avoid being robbed?
Thursday marked the formal launch of 166su Valley’s “Take It With You” campaign. 166su County police, in partnership with agencies in the cities of Salem and 166su, the town of Vinton and Botetourt County, are urging residents to take their purses, wallets and IDs with them when they leave their car unattended.
“I think the biggest way to stop or slow down the crime is to educate,” Van Patten said. “Don’t leave your stuff in your vehicle anymore. And please spread the word to your family, your friends and everybody that you can.”
Van Patten said residents should also be aware of out-of-state license plates and rental vehicles, marks of potential thieves.
If someone breaks into your car, police ask that you call them immediately to file a report where the break-in occurred. Be sure to cancel your cards and notify your bank. You can also call one of three national credit reporting organizations, Equifax, Experian and Trans Union, to place a fraud alert on your name and Social Security number.
Montie said that when she found her car window smashed April 6, she called 911, and police came to the scene to investigate. She said officers fingerprinted her vehicle. Redden said that after she called her husband about her smashed window, she called 911, and police spoke with her as they were on the way to Mount Pleasant Park. Both victims said police have been helpful in handling their cases.
But a month later, the women are still trying to put the pieces back together.
“I thought it was just going to be a couple days, but I’ve been dealing with this for almost a month now,” Montie said. “Every single day, I get an email, or I get a letter in the mail, or I have a company calling me about my late bill that I forgot about. It’s been quite impactful. It was a very violating feeling to return to my car and see that someone has broken in and taken my stuff.”
Redden said the theft from her car has had an impact on her 7-year-old daughter.
“She did have an emotional response to it,” Redden said. “The first time that we returned to the park, we pulled into the parking lot and my child, who loves nothing more than to be out on the field playing a sport, says, ‘I don’t think that I want to be here anymore.’ It’s larger than the personal belongings. It’s larger than having to get my window replaced. It impacts more than all of that.”
“At this point, I would hike any mountain with my purse on me before I would deal with this stress and struggle again,” Montie said. “It’s inconvenient to leave your stuff at home, but it’s much more inconvenient to have to go through the process of replacing it and getting everything sorted out after you are robbed.”