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
[Image: © 2016 Bark M./The Truth About Cars]
More by Steph Willems
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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.
You reap what you sow.