In the wee morning hours of Dec. 9, in the Raleigh, NC, area, a group of thieves were busy cleaning out a local dealership. Within a mere 15 minutes, the group drove off in $600,000 worth of muscle cars in what appears to be quite the coordinated effort caught on surveillance cameras.
The whole thing started at the dealership in Lillington, just south of Raleigh, when a U-Haul truck pulled up near Heister Chrysler Dodge Ram Jeep and several people jumped out. The dealership’s operations manager said everything looked “almost like it was rehearsed” with everyone seemingly knowing exactly where to go.
One threw a brick through the dealership’s glass doors, then used a crowbar to get inside the key lock box. That made swiping the vehicles a breeze.
Instead of targeting mid-level models, the thieves went straight for Hellcats, a TRX, Durango, Corvette and other high-performance vehicles. In total, 12 cars were stolen.
More than a few thieves have targeted dealerships in the middle of the night over the past few years, when it's likely no one will show up.
The operations manager said a similar heist went down at a dealership in Winston-Salem, leading them to believe this was pulled off by a car theft ring.
Abby Andrews