Suspects steal 4 tires in under 5 minutes in rash of car-related thefts: officials

PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia Police Department’s Major Crimes Unit is looking into a number of car theft cases in the city where a group is stealing all four wheels in as quick as five minutes.

A woman who asked that we only identify her by her first name, Isabella, says she walked out to her Toyota Corolla parked on North 4th Street near Germantown Avenue on Saturday morning and found all four of her wheels missing. Her car was propped up on plastic metal crates.

 "When I saw the tires gone, I broke down crying. My lug nuts were everywhere on the ground, it was just scattered everywhere, glass everywhere, and when I was picking everything up, this looked different," she says, holding her wheel lock key. "I had no idea what this was."

 Isabella believes the person or people that smashed her passenger side window and opened her glove box were likely looking for her wheel lock key, which is the tool used to remove the wheel lock, a special lug nut intended to prevent theft.

Wheel lock key.

 "It was literally in a bag from the dealership, I didn’t even know it was in glove box."

 Captain Jason Smith with the Major Crimes Unit tells FOX 29 that’s a tactic they see often with these thefts. They are investigating nearly 50 cases in and around Philadelphia's Juniata section since late last summer, and are close to obtaining arrest warrants, and around Center City that fit a different pattern. The 6th District alone, which includes Northern Liberties, saw at least 19 cases since November.

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 A neighbor also provided FOX 29 with a picture of a car with all four wheels removed near 3rd Street and Girard Avenue on Saturday.

 "I actually thought that maybe it was done on purpose, maybe somebody lived here and they were getting repairs done, but I had no idea somebody actually stole someone’s rims and tires," says Chanel Waters, who saw the car when going to work. "I think it’s horrible."

 Isabella took to TikTok to urge people to hide the wheel lock keys somewhere else.

 "It can prevent it happening again, you know, if that tool wasn’t in the glove box, I don’t think they would’ve taken the tires," she says. "So that’s why I wanted to help other people, because I don’t want it to happen to anyone else."

 If you have any information about the cases, call the Philadelphia Police Department.

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