Muddy200x
11-13-2004, 05:33 PM
:D Here's one for "Americas Dumbest Criminals" They could name it "Joy ride gone bad", or something like that. The car that was stolen belongs to my stepbrother.
http://www.tribune-chronicle.com/news/story/1113202004_new02theft13.asp
Car theft case solved by snapshot
By CHRISTOPHER BOBBY Tribune Chronicle
WARREN - The veteran city police investigators have stopped short of nicknaming their younger colleagues "Cold Case Currington'' or "Cold Case Krafcik'' after they cracked an 11-month-old car theft case this week.
But rookie detectives Mike Currington and Mike Krafcik, who have only been in plain clothes the past five months, are the first to admit that sometimes you need a little luck.
Luck came this week in the form of a hand-delivered snapshot of a car thief who stole the 1995 Pontiac Bonneville of a Kundel Industries employee from the plant parking lot last Dec. 31.
The thieves apparently had taken pictures of themselves when they were on a joyride with the stolen vehicle, police said.
Jason McClellan of Cortland, Kundel's plant manager, said he had left work, and his car was missing from the lot.
Warren police recovered it Jan. 3 somewhere on the east end of High Street N.E.
"The windshield was broken out, and they had thrown lit cigarettes all over the interior. So I put in an insurance claim like anyone,'' said McClellan, who found out later that probably during the heist, the radiator was punctured.
"There was anti-freeze pouring out of the exhaust. They must have taken it off-road. So, I put in a second claim,'' he said, finally resigning after more repairs that it was time to clean out the car.
In the glove compartment of the car was a disposable camera that had been there since the fall of 2003. McClellan said his wife recently convinced him to finally develop the roll of film.
"I got the film developed, and there were the photos of my two kids in their Halloween costumes,'' McClellan said. "Then, my wife points out the photos of the strangers that appeared to be riding inside the car that had been stolen.
"Warren police did a super job. I only gave them the pictures Tuesday, and they found the guy already,'' said McClellan.
Currington and his partner, meanwhile, were comparing notes this week with Girard detective John Norman and the Niles police Capt. Chuck Wilson, trying to solve a string of convenience store robberies in all three communities.
"Mike told me he had this other case he was working on and he had these pictures. I was joking when I said 'let me have a look, I can probably ID them,''' Norman said. "It really proves why departments should share information.''
Norman recognized 18-year-old Anthony Cox as the one driving McClellan's car and the other photo of Cox and his friend was taken outside another friend's apartment with the numbered address visible.
Norman told Currington that Cox is accused of stealing a SUV out of Warren in April and was arrested in March after a brief chase in Girard. Cox was sitting in Trumbull County Jail on a receiving stolen property charge after being sentenced to do time until April.
"I went over and talked to the guy in jail, and he admitted the other theft,'' said Currington, who prepared juvenile charges against Cox since he was only 17 when McClellan's car was stolen last year.
cbobby@tribune-chronicle.com
http://www.tribune-chronicle.com/news/story/1113202004_new02theft13.asp
Car theft case solved by snapshot
By CHRISTOPHER BOBBY Tribune Chronicle
WARREN - The veteran city police investigators have stopped short of nicknaming their younger colleagues "Cold Case Currington'' or "Cold Case Krafcik'' after they cracked an 11-month-old car theft case this week.
But rookie detectives Mike Currington and Mike Krafcik, who have only been in plain clothes the past five months, are the first to admit that sometimes you need a little luck.
Luck came this week in the form of a hand-delivered snapshot of a car thief who stole the 1995 Pontiac Bonneville of a Kundel Industries employee from the plant parking lot last Dec. 31.
The thieves apparently had taken pictures of themselves when they were on a joyride with the stolen vehicle, police said.
Jason McClellan of Cortland, Kundel's plant manager, said he had left work, and his car was missing from the lot.
Warren police recovered it Jan. 3 somewhere on the east end of High Street N.E.
"The windshield was broken out, and they had thrown lit cigarettes all over the interior. So I put in an insurance claim like anyone,'' said McClellan, who found out later that probably during the heist, the radiator was punctured.
"There was anti-freeze pouring out of the exhaust. They must have taken it off-road. So, I put in a second claim,'' he said, finally resigning after more repairs that it was time to clean out the car.
In the glove compartment of the car was a disposable camera that had been there since the fall of 2003. McClellan said his wife recently convinced him to finally develop the roll of film.
"I got the film developed, and there were the photos of my two kids in their Halloween costumes,'' McClellan said. "Then, my wife points out the photos of the strangers that appeared to be riding inside the car that had been stolen.
"Warren police did a super job. I only gave them the pictures Tuesday, and they found the guy already,'' said McClellan.
Currington and his partner, meanwhile, were comparing notes this week with Girard detective John Norman and the Niles police Capt. Chuck Wilson, trying to solve a string of convenience store robberies in all three communities.
"Mike told me he had this other case he was working on and he had these pictures. I was joking when I said 'let me have a look, I can probably ID them,''' Norman said. "It really proves why departments should share information.''
Norman recognized 18-year-old Anthony Cox as the one driving McClellan's car and the other photo of Cox and his friend was taken outside another friend's apartment with the numbered address visible.
Norman told Currington that Cox is accused of stealing a SUV out of Warren in April and was arrested in March after a brief chase in Girard. Cox was sitting in Trumbull County Jail on a receiving stolen property charge after being sentenced to do time until April.
"I went over and talked to the guy in jail, and he admitted the other theft,'' said Currington, who prepared juvenile charges against Cox since he was only 17 when McClellan's car was stolen last year.
cbobby@tribune-chronicle.com