Crime

Car thieves steal more than a dozen vehicles from Frederickson auto lot, deputies say

Car thieves broke into an auto auction lot in Frederickson and stole more than a dozen vehicles by cutting a section of fence and ramming a gate, deputies say.

Pierce County Sheriff’s Department deputies were dispatched to the auto lot Friday, where a manager showed them the damage. Deputies said the suspects broke into a building that held keys for the vehicles and made off with 19 trucks and cars.

The Puget Sound Auto Task Force has been able to recover 10 of the stolen vehicles and is continuing to try to track down the rest, according to a Facebook post from the sheriff’s department.

Many of the vehicles were found parked in neighborhoods, deputies said. Task force members were able to locate them by searching in places where they commonly locate stolen vehicles. Deputies said the auto task force is working to locate suspects.

The thefts come at a time when deputies say they are seeing a dramatic increase in vehicle theft. Deputies said there were 796 vehicles stolen in October this year, compared to 367 stolen during the same month in 2020. From Thursday to Sunday, deputies said they received reports of 43 stolen vehicles.

This story was originally published November 30, 2021 at 1:43 PM.

Peter Talbot
The News Tribune
Peter Talbot is a criminal justice reporter for The News Tribune. He started with the newspaper in 2021. Before that, he earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism at Indiana University. In college, he worked as an intern at NPR in Washington, D.C. He also interned for the Oregonian and the Tampa Bay Times. Support my work with a digital subscription
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