KENNEWICK, WA – According to Pasco Police Department, there have been 139 car thefts in Tri-Cities alone since the beginning of 2022.
“We keep seeing people abandon the stolen cars. Usually a car stolen in Pasco could be found in Richland,” said Sergeant Travis Park, Pasco PD. “And then whoever stole the car will abandon one car to get from point A to point B and steal another car.”
One victim shared his story. Sergio Leon Carastro.
“I was coming out of work and someone told me that my car was being stolen. It only took 30 seconds as I ran out there and saw that it was gone,” said Carastro.
Carastro found his car thanks to a Facebook post a few days later in Kennewick.
“But it doesn’t run anymore. A lot of the parts were stolen,” said Carastro.
Carastro said he filed a report with Pasco PD, but told him they couldn’t do much since the suspect was unknown and they were already dealing with many other car thefts.
According to Sgt. Park, 51% of the cars that were stolen were left unlocked. Of those, 38% had the keys left in them (47 out of 139). Of the total 139 cars stolen, 27 were running at the time they were stolen (22%). 12% had an unknown status for whether the keys were left in or not, as it was not specifically mentioned in the report.
Sgt. Park says the best way to protect yourself from a car theft ordeal, is to “not be vulnerable or an easy target.”
This includes locking your car, not leaving keys in the car, and not having any items in plain sight.
“Cameras are also great to have because there have been times where we get a call of someone stealing their car and they’re watching it in real-time on their front porch camera and are able to identify the suspect,” said Sgt. Park.
If you are a victim of a auto theft, call the police.
