CALEDONIA TOWNSHIP, Mich. — The owner of a car dealership could only watch as thieves stole multiple vehicles from his lot.
Comodo Motors in Caledonia Township was targeted by criminals Monday morning. The owner saw multiple people on his property through a live surveillance camera around 2 a.m. He alerted police.
Owner Jordan Baker said, "They broke out this glass, and then somebody was working the door and with a tool, and they slid the pin over.”
As deputies from the Kent County Sheriff's Office arrived, they spotted five vehicles peeling out of the parking lot. Three of them, a blue Dodge Challenger, a black Chevrolet Corvette, and a black Dodge Ram 1500 TRX, are believed to be stolen from Comodo Motors. The other two, a black Dodge Challenger and a white Jeep, were also stolen from a different car lot.
Kent County Undersheriff Bryan Muir said, “It's a lot like Fast and the Furious because they were a motivated, coordinated, organized group stealing vehicles.”
The five vehicles drove north on Broadmoor Avenue. Deputies were able to deploy stop sticks, popping the tires on the blue Challenger. That car eventually stopped on M-6 near the I-96 interchange. The suspect behind the wheel hopped into the white Jeep.
The pursuit went into Ionia County, with deputies losing track of the white Jeep and black Corvette, which were both going more than 100 mph.
Muir said, “The factors that involved the time of day, the light vehicle traffic on the road, the coordinated effort, and the speeds, we were able to continue this pursuit for a farther distance than most would have lasted.”
The black Dodge Ram was pulled over by the Ionia County Sheriff's Office and Portland Police Department. The driver, a 19-year-old woman from Detroit, was taken into custody.
Later in the morning, deputies in Livingston County spotted the remaining stolen vehicles headed east on I-96 near US-23 in Brighton. Deputies did not pursue the vehicles because of the weather, but minutes later they found the Corvette abandoned after it crashed into the median wall. The sheriff's office says the driver likely lost control on wet pavement.
No suspect was found at the scene or immediate area.
All three of Comodo’s vehicles were recovered but were damaged in the theft and pursuit.
“That's what's left for us business owners is to clean up all the scraps. Now I have diminished value on our expensive cars. I mean, this is $250,000 in vehicles that they stole that are now going to be worth less because they're stolen recovery,” said Baker.
Detectives are asking for tips in this case. Anyone with information on the thefts can contact the Kent County Sheriff's Office at (616) 632-6125. Tips can also be submitted to Silent Observer at (616) 774-2345.
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