two people charged in car thefts took vehicles that were idling
Suspects in two latest car thefts, in which the vehicles were left idling, were charged in court on Tuesday.
State law prohibits owners from leaving cars running and unattended. However, in seventeen of the sixty seven car thefts investigated by the Billings Police Department in November, the vehicles were left running with the keys inwards.
On Nov. 26, a woman reported her car was stolen when she left it heating up outside her home. A DVD player and a Samsung tablet were inwards the vehicle. A man contacted the woman and reported he had seen Taylor Madison Graves, Legitimate, with the tablet and DVD player.
Graves appeared Tuesday in Yellowstone County Justice Court to be charged with felony theft for stealing the woman’s one thousand nine hundred ninety nine Ford Expedition. She was being held at the Yellowstone County Detention Facility on a $15,000 bond.
On Dec. 24, a car was stolen from in front of the Northern Hotel. A witness said a man and a woman walked up to a Toyota Highlander and the man got in and drove off. The witness followed the man to Albertsons, six hundred eleven N. 27th St. Police then arrived and arrested the man.
John D. Hobson, 34, was charged with stealing the Highlander.
Hobson told police he had taken the car at the direction of the holder in order to commit insurance fraud. The possessor of the Highlander told Hobson he would leave the car running outside the Northern sometime inbetween one to two p.m. Hobson was to steal the car and take it to Albertsons where the car proprietor would give Hobson the car and $Five,000.
Hobson was charged with felony theft and misdemeanor obstructing a peace officer. Yellowstone Justice of the Peace David Carter ordered Hobson held at the jail on a $Ten,000 bond.
Increase in cases
Yellowstone County Attorney Scott Twito has seen a latest increase in the number of felony thefts. Twito doesn’t see cases involving car thefts unless charges are filed, and the increase in cases could also indicate more cars are being recovered by Billings Police.
Vehicle thefts have a tendency to increase during the winter months, said Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder. During the year to mid-December, Linder said his office has had eighty two confirmed motor vehicle thefts. For the entire of 2015, Yellowstone County reported one hundred nineteen felony car thefts, according to the Montana Board of Crime Control.
When people leave their cars unlocked and running, Linder said, vehicle thefts become “crimes of chance.” It is not clear if there is an organized group looking for these effortless thefts.
Linder said people should liquidate valuables from cars and remain with the vehicle when it’s heating up.
A major concern for law enforcement are the guns left in people’s vehicles, Linder said.
When the cars are recovered, many have some type of harm, whether to the figure or to the engine, Linder said. Cars stolen out of the city are being recovered in the county and vice versa. Because of the weather, Linder said many vehicle pursuits have to be called off. It is not clear how many of the cars reported stolen are being recovered.
In November, BPD got reports of sixty seven stolen vehicles, Billings Police Lt. Neil Lawrence said. The majority of people reporting cars stolen said they’d left the cars running and unlocked. The city has not seen a lot of break-ins, similar to the county, and also advises people stop leaving their cars unlocked and running.
Still, the number of thefts in November was lower than the monthly average of car thefts in 2016, Lawrence said. It’s only two higher than the two thousand fifteen monthly car theft average, which was 65, according to the Montana Board of Crime Control.