Man steals $400,000 worth of heavy-duty Ford trucks in ‘specialized’ theft, cops say
A man was arrested after several new trucks went missing from a Ford dealership in Georgia, police said.
Staff at Akins Ford in Winder noticed five “heavy duty, late-model” trucks disappeared from their property Feb. 12, according to a Feb. 19 Winder Police Department news release. The value of the missing trucks was about $400,000, police said.
The dealership called the police, who began investigating the theft, according to the department. It appeared the last truck was taken from the dealership at about 7 a.m. the day the theft was reported, police said.
Winder police identified a 28-year-old man from Atlanta as a suspect and arrested him on Feb. 15 during a traffic stop with the help of the Atlanta Police Department and the Georgia State Patrol, authorities said. He was charged with five felony counts of motor vehicle theft, according to Barrow County Detention Center jail records.
The man was part of a crime group that “specialized” in stealing new, expensive vehicles in “high demand” for reselling their parts or the whole car, Police Chief Jim Fullington said. Stealing the vehicles requires extensive “technical knowledge” to evade the trucks’ security systems and use its “electronic ignition systems” to move the cars, Fullington said.
The man was booked at the Barrow County Detention Center and has no bail posted, according to jail records.
Winder is about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta.
This story was originally published February 20, 2024 at 8:45 AM with the headline "Man steals $400,000 worth of heavy-duty Ford trucks in ‘specialized’ theft, cops say."
