A Southwest Miami-Dade homeowner said it took thieves just 20 minutes to put two cars on concrete blocks and steal thousands of dollars’ worth of wheels and tires overnight Monday.
Luis Perna said he woke up at 6 a.m. Monday and found his car, a Lexus IS-F, on blocks in front of his home on 5900 block of SW 46th St. Security cameras captured the suspect’s car pulling up to a neighbors’ house to steal four concrete blocks before parking behind Perna’s Lexus.
“It’s a sport package, and that’s exactly what they were going after,” Perna said.
According to Perna, the stolen wheels and tires from his car cost more than $4,000. But the thieves weren’t done; they also stole the wheels and tires form a neighbor of Perna. The crime took a total of 20 minutes to jack the cars up, remove eight wheels and tires, and then lower the cars back onto blocks.
And while the cost of replacing the tires and wheels is high, that’s not what shook Perna the most.
“My family sleeps right there and it’s just very uncomfortable knowing that where you park and where you live that people would do such things,” Perna said. “They have to resort to 2 to 3 in the morning, robbing people.”
Perna said he had heard of 5 more wheel and tire thefts in the south Miami-Dade area, all in just one night. He told NBC 6 he thinks a ring of thieves are targeting new vehicles for theft and later sell the items online or at body shops.
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“They may not get caught this time, they may not get caught next time; but eventually their luck is gonna run out,” Perna said.
If you have any information about the car burglaries, call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS (8477).
