Latest news with #WCRZ
Daily Mirror
02-07-2025
- Daily Mirror
Schoolboy, 12, steals numerous cars and flogs them for £25 in 'GTA gone wrong'
After weeks of investigations, officers have now apprehended a 12-year-old suspected car thief, who allegedly flogged multiple pinched vehicles for less than £25 each A 12-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of stealing cars and flogging them for less than £25. The pre-teen was apprehended on Saturday, June 28, in Pontiac, Michigan, an area historically known for its now-shuttered General Motors automobile manufacturing plants. According to a statement released by Sheriff Michael Bouchard, Oakland County Sheriff's Department officers caught the young suspect breaking into cars in a business parking lot in the former motoring heartland of America. The minor, who remains unidentified on account of his age, was even clutching a license plate when Michigan police apprehended him. WCRZ reports that there had been a series of car thefts in the area, with four vehicles pinched from one company alone. For weeks, investigators tried to solve the case, and, after setting up a stakeout over the weekend, they finally cracked it. In their public statement, the Oakland County Sheriff's Department shared: "Through their investigation, detectives learned the boy had taken three or four vehicles over the past month, selling at least one of them for $30." The statement continues: "The suspect entered numerous vehicles in the parking lot and when he was stopped and apprehended, he was carrying a license plate." At the time of writing, it's unclear whether or not the individual who bought the hugely discounted stolen vehicle was also slapped in cuffs. The youngster, whose antics have been compared to the video game Grand Theft Auto, is being held in Oakland County Children's Village, a juvenile detention centre which, a per its official website, "offers a safe, structured, therapeutic environment for youth that includes secure detention, residential treatment, and shelter care." It's hoped that this early brush with the law could be the wake-up call the lad needs to get himself back on the straight and narrow, with Sheriff Bouchard holding out hope of a brighter future for him going forward. The sheriff stated: "This young man is on a very bad path, attempting to live his own Grand Theft Auto. Hopefully, intervention by the courts will send him on a better life path as well as stopping the constant theft from this business." The Detroit News reports that the state of Michigan has seen a steep rise in car thefts over recent years, with a startling 140 per cent increased in stolen vehicles noted in Oakland County between the years 2019 to 2023, as per State Police data. According to law enforcement officials, several factors have contributed towards this significant hike, including organised gangs targeting vehicles, technological advances which have made it possible to unlock or start cars remotely. Macomb County Sheriff's Cmdr. Jason Abro, said: "It's a huge problem, not just here, but across the country. We're throwing everything in our toolbox at it."
New York Post
02-07-2025
- New York Post
Pint-sized Michigan perp caught stealing cars and selling them for 30 bucks: ‘Attempting to live his own grand theft auto'
Thirty bucks for a car – what a steal! That's because the car was, in fact, stolen by a pint-sized perp in Michigan who had gone on a crime spree worthy of the video game Grand Theft Auto, according to police. Officers from the Oakland County Sheriff's Department caught the 12-year-old suspect red-handed as he was breaking into cars in Pontiac Saturday, according to a statement released by Sheriff Michael Bouchard. A 12-year-old boy was arrested in Michigan for stealing cars. PBXStudio – 'Through their investigation, detectives learned the boy had taken three or four vehicles over the past month, selling at least one of them for $30,' Oakland County Sheriff's Department said in a statement. It is unclear if the person who purchased the stolen car for thirty bucks was arrested as well. The boy was arrested in the former home of General Motors, which made a line of cars of the same name. Detectives had been trying to crack the case for weeks, according to WCRZ. There had been a rash of stolen cars in the area, with four stolen from one business alone, police said. Investigators from the Oakland County Sheriff's Department had set up a stakeout at one parking lot on June 28 and waited, police said. They caught the tween terror breaking into a car. He had a license plate on him when he was caught, according to the statement. 'The suspect entered numerous vehicles in the parking lot and when he was stopped and apprehended, he was carrying a license plate,' the statement said. Bouchard said he is optimistic that since the boy's brush with the law came so early in his life, he still has a chance to change the road he is on. 'This young man is on a very bad path, attempting to live his own grand theft auto,' Bouchard said in the news release. 'Hopefully intervention by the courts will send him on a better life path as well as stopping the constant theft from this business.' A 12-year-old suspect sold one of the cars he stole for $30, police said. Oakland County Sheriff The boy is being held in Oakland County Children's Village, and the case remains under investigation, according to police. Like Motor City, a 30 minute drive away, Pontiac went from an industrial powerhouse in its heyday to a city in steep decline, a ghost town after the collapse of the American automobile industry in the 1970s and the shuttering of all the city's factories. In recent years, violent crime in Pontiac has gone down, but it is still much higher compared to other cities of similar sizes.
