AREA AUTO THEFTS ON THE RISE

Officials Believe Many Stolen As One-Way Rides

Zack Ward found a burned-out 2002 Jeep Wrangler this week in a wooded
area off Barrineau Park Road near Cantonment.

The Jeep, its steel wheels melted, is the latest in a rising number
of vehicle thefts in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.

Ward, a vehicle theft investigator for the Escambia County Sheriff's
Office, said the Jeep, reported stolen June 15, probably was dumped
after a joyride, one of the common reasons behind such thefts. In
addition to joyrides, chop shops and insurance scams, Ward and other
investigators have noted a peculiar trend in Escambia and Santa Rosa
area thefts.

Dozens of stolen vehicles have been recovered out of state, likely
snatched, investigators say, by transient workers using them as
one-way transportation home.

The vehicles have been found as far away as Texas, Indiana, Arkansas,
Louisiana, and in one recent case, Portland, Maine, Ward said.

"We're seeing a lot more cars end up out of state than usual," Ward
said. "People have the misconception that if they cross state lines
with a stolen vehicle they are safe. But we work very well with other
law enforcement agencies."

Other factors that may be causing vehicle theft numbers to rise:

Many of the vehicles stolen were construction trailers laden with
equipment, said Jerry Henderson, Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office spokesman.

There also has been a wave of personal watercraft and all-terrain
vehicle thefts in south Santa Rosa County, Henderson said.

Both counties report the majority of vehicle thefts as drug-related.
Ward said in some of these cases, the vehicles often are snatched
from convenience stores, when the victim leaves the keys in the
ignition or leaves it running while they run inside for an item.

A waiting thief snatches the vehicle and trades it for crack cocaine.
Often the vehicle is used to ferry drugs and swapped several times
before it is finally stripped of its equipment and abandoned, Ward said.

Stolen cars that are taken out of state are not lost to
investigators. The vehicles and their tags are entered into the
National Crime Information Computers, which can be accessed by most
law enforcement agencies in the U.S.

One victim, identified as Peggy Ann Pinestraw, reported her Lexus
stolen from her residence in Pensacola. Sheriff's deputies in
Tangipanhoa Parish, La., found the unoccupied Lexus two days later.

Kimberly Kerns reported in March that her Pontiac Grand Am was stolen
from her home, along with her purse with her debit card inside, a
Sheriff's Office report stated. Two days later, Todd A. Fuller, who
rented a room from Kerns at one point, was arrested after deputies in
Gray County, Texas, stopped him driving the vehicle.

"It's a crazy world. I know what's going on," Ward said. "I just
don't understand it."