Dealership Wheel Theft Turns Deadly in Ohio

by Steph Willems

Published: August 1st, 2016

dealership wheel theft turns deadly in ohio

Opportunistic thieves are making off with high-end wheels from dealer lots more than ever, but one Ohio man’s nighttime excursion at a General Motors dealer just cost him his life.

Employees at Ron Marhofer Buick GMC opened their Canton, Ohio dealership per usual on Saturday morning, not knowing that a 43-year-old man lay dead under one of their Yukons.

According to the Canton Repository, the man, identified as Richard E. Ritch, was killed as he attempted to remove the first of the Yukon’s wheels at some point the previous night. The county coroner’s office claims the SUV fell off the jack and impacted his head, crushing him.

In a gruesome twist, the dealership was open for hours before the man’s body was discovered at about noon. Sales manager Kyle Green said a sales associate only noticed the body when a vehicle blocking their view of the man drove away.

While the grisly discovery was “obviously shocking,” according to Green, the dealership stayed open and sales continued. The service department checked over the Yukon for damage. Likely, the new owner won’t have a clue of the vehicle’s brief, but shocking, history.

This attempted theft looks like a one-man crime of opportunity, but other dealers face organized teams of wheel snatchers.

In early June, a group of thieves worked for two to three hours stripping a San Antonio Cadillac dealership of its wheels. Dozens of vehicles were left on blocks following that theft, the second of its kind in that city in less than a year. The key target was full-size SUVs with 20-inch wheels. Police said the thieves came prepared with all the right tools, as well as a truck to haul away the loot.

Stolen wheels are usually offered for half price on the black market.

The KENS 5 report mentions another GM dealer wheel theft involving 45 vehicles in a San Antonio suburb the previous November. Similar thefts occurred in the Houston and Austin areas, including the removal of wheels from 50 Ford vehicles in February.

Atlanta dealerships, as well as private owners, reported a rash of wheel thefts in that city this year.

H/T to @SexCpotatoes

#Crime&Punishment #Ford #GeneralMotors #GM #Theft #WheelTheft #Wheels

Steph Willems

More by Steph Willems

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13 of 167 comments

ToddAtlasF1 on Aug 02, 2016

This is a really novel way to murder someone and be sure there will be minimal investigation and few will care. There are other variations that are just as effective.

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Dukeisduke on Aug 02, 2016

You reap what you sow.

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- Big Oil on Aug 02, 2016
  
  That's a strong statement. The vast majority of people in developed countries don't think that a thief deserves death. We don't know this guy's life; only how it ended. To wind up here, I suspect life dealt him a lousy hand, but also that he played the cards he was dealt poorly. A waste of human life. I wish he had 'almost' died that night, seen the light and turned his life around. Maybe that's unrealistic, but I remain optimistic for people like Richie Ritch.
  
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- Corey Lewis on Aug 02, 2016
  
  @VoGo If he almost died, then the taxpayers have to cover the huge medical expenses of a criminal.
  
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- Dukeisduke on Aug 02, 2016
  
  @VoGo It's unfortunate, but he shouldn't have put himself in that position.
  
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- Paragon on Aug 02, 2016
  
  @VoGo Maybe his death wasn't in vain. Maybe it is a teaching point or even "a wake-up call" to others who find themselves in his poor economic condition. Maybe at least one person will see the light that ripping off whoever you can most easily rip off is not the solution to obtain a few bucks needed to score some drugs or whatever.
  
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- Paragon on Aug 02, 2016
  
  @VoGo As to the comment "I suppose life dealt him a lousy hand," I think it's not so much what you were dealt but how you play the cards; in other words, do the best with what you have. As a student of history, we should all be aware that many of the people who rose to the heights of accomplishment were often from very humble beginnings. Learning to "Do The Right Thing" - which is also a Spike Lee movie I saw when it first came out - is of paramount importance in one's life. Not learning that can lead to very bad outcomes. "You reap what you sow" also comes to mind.
  
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- Big Oil on Aug 02, 2016
  
  @Paragon If you had read the complete sentence, it said "To wind up here, I suspect life dealt him a lousy hand, but also that he played the cards he was dealt poorly." We all have accountability for our lives. But those of us who are more fortunate should be very careful about judging others.
  
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- GeneralMalaise on Aug 02, 2016
  
  @Corey Lewis Yeah, with a half-crushed head. Not cost effective!
  
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- GeneralMalaise on Aug 02, 2016
  
  @VoGo Thanks... I guess we're all guilty, in a way. We all crushed him, and we all got a complimentary bumper sticker that said, "I helped crush Richard's head!"
  
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- Big Oil on Aug 02, 2016
  
  @VoGo I see that the nightly attacks on decency, logic and Vogo have begun. Why don't you make an original, productive post about cars today?
  
  Like
- GeneralMalaise on Aug 02, 2016
  
  @VoGo "decency", "logic" and "vogo" should never be used in the same post, let alone sentence.
  
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- JimC2 on Aug 02, 2016
  
  @VoGo "“I helped crush Richard’s head!”" The Head Crusher from Kids in the Hall would be proud.
  
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