Car thefts spike has police searching for those responsible

Kelly Kenoyer

Of The New Era

Sweet Home has experienced a spate of car thefts in August, a total of four between Aug. 1 and 5.

While all the cars have since been recovered, the police are still looking for leads as to who is responsible. Police Chief Jeff Lynn said the thefts were all likely done by the same individual or group of people.

“It’s just too many in one night, it’s just unusual,” Lynn said of the thefts, three of which occurred on Aug. 5 alone. “It’s highly unusual for Sweet Home, and several of them were discovered within a half mile of where they were taken.” There have been a total of 20 car thefts in Sweet Home in 2020, he said, but August has seen a definite spike.

“We have some video footage of one theft, but it occurred around 4:50 in the morning and it was too far away to make any kind of identification of the suspect,” he said.

All the stolen cars were soon recovered, three in Sweet Home and one in Albany. Lynn said nothing was stolen out of the stolen vehicles – they were just driven away and parked in another part of town. One, a Honda CR-V, was reported stolen from the 3100 block of Long at 7:10 a.m., only to be discovered at 10:17 a.m. at 18th and Dogwood.

“We took some evidence like fingerprints from the vehicles and will get that analyzed at the crime lab,” Lynn said.

Lynn said to make sure your vehicles are secured and parked close to your residence.

“One was taken from where it was parked on the street.” Some of the stolen cars were locked when they were taken, but it’s still very important to secure your vehicles, he said. “I would just encourage everyone to try to be a little bit more vigilant of where they park.”

There’s also been a slight increase in thefts from cars, so Lynn said to “make sure no items of value are left visible inside of the vehicle.”

He asks that the public call the police if they see any suspicious activity in their area, especially late at night.

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