A Jaguar Land Rover dealership in Waukesha, Wisconsin, fell victim to an organized theft, according to police reports. A group of individuals successfully stole nine high-end luxury vehicles valued at a total of $583,000. While one suspect has been apprehended and most of the stolen cars have been recovered, eight individuals involved in the theft are still at large.
Authorities say that a tipster called them early on Saturday to report a group of teens in masks filling up nine luxury vehicles at a single gas station. When officers arrived at the scene, a chase began that ended up traversing multiple counties and ended near the border with the state of Illinois.
Between those two places, officers managed to pop at least one tire on one of the fleeing Range Rovers. It subsequently struck an unrelated third-party vehicle and crashed out. The driver, a 17-year-old, was taken into custody and is now facing several felony charges and over 30 years in jail if proven guilty.
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Interestingly, it appears as though for now, the other eight suspects all managed to get away. If police have a lead on them, they’re not saying so. Authorities have recovered six of the cars to this point. Some were found in Chicago, which also happens to be where the 17-year-old hails from.
As for how the hit played out, the group lifted up a garage door, grabbed the keys to vehicles made by Land Rover, Jaguar, and Porsche, and then left the scene.
“This is an intentional act where you broke into a business with eight of your buddies thinking you’re fun and going to make a couple of bucks trying to sell this in the Chicago area, and Waukesha police say no,” said Waukesha Police Capt. Dan Baumann
“This wasn’t just a group of kids that just decided to stay up late one night playing video games and say, ‘Hey let’s go see if the nine of us can travel two hours away to commit crimes,'” he said in an interview with CBS News. “Because that’s not something that normally happens.”