Sheriff’s log: Thieves’ latest target: Tires and wheels

In Purdy, hot wheels for real

A worker at a fruit and vegetable market in Purdy left his car there overnight August 1 and returned to find it up on blocks. The wheels and tires had been stolen.

Pierce County Sheriff’s deputies said the theft took place about 3:30 a.m. at the market in the 6700 block of Tyee Dr. NW, near the Purdy Bridge. The worker told deputies that when his shift ended, he went to a nearby residence and spent the night there. When he returned to his vehicle in the morning, he found it up on blocks.

Security camera footage showed a male suspect rolling the tires out of the parking lot, but the video was not good enough to get a description. The deputy said It appears that the tires were carried down to the beach, to get around the locked gate, and then up the other side.

In a similar incident, Gig Harbor police discovered a Ford F-350 pickup abandoned without wheels and tires near 112th Street Court and Burnham Drive on Aug. 7. A license checked showed the truck had been stolen from Kitsap County. Officers were unable to contact the registered owner, so the vehicle was towed.

According to the insurance company Gieco, wheel thefts cost car owners over $1 million a year. A thief with an impact wrench can remove a set of four wheels in under 10 minutes, the company says. Wheel and tires are not numbered, so they’re usually untraceable, and they’re easy to sell. A complete set of wheels tires, even with standard rims, can fetch between $1,000 and $5,000. Custom alloy rims can be worth even more.

This story was originally published August 11, 2021 at 5:30 AM.