Lewisville car left on bricks in wave of wheel and tire thefts

Lewisville Police are looking for who is responsible for a wave of thefts involving stolen wheels and tires.

"We've had 18 thefts of not just tires, but the entire wheel, an entire set of wheels, off of a vehicle, 18 different reports here in the city of Lewisville since January 1," said Officer Rachel Roberts, the public information officer for the Lewisville Police Department.

The latest incident happened over the weekend around 3:00 a.m. in a neighborhood east of Edmonds Lane and Bellaire Boulevard.

"We came out here, and there were no wheels and no rims, nothing," said Alicia Smock. "Honestly, I laughed at first, because I'm like, 'Really?' but it was then, you know, 'How am I going to pay this? Who does that? Like Why?"

She found her 2015 Chrysler 300 missing all four wheels and tires, propped up on bricks from a neighbor's property.

"We are afraid to get anything out of the car because it is barely sitting on this brick," said Smock. "It's kind of humiliating. It's just, it's unfortunate."

A neighbor's doorbell security system captured the theft from a distance. It's hard to see, but the video showed at two to three people with lights removing the wheels and tires from the car in less than five minutes.

"It's just unbelievable how quickly it was done," said Smock. “They left me a nice smiley face on the side of my car, though"

"To start your day and find out all of that's come to a complete halt. It's not as simple as a flat tire, you have no wheels on your car," said Officer Roberts. "Not only is it a huge hindrance in what you're planning on doing, it is also an expensive problem, where some insurance companies may provide you money to fix that, but not everyone has that type of coverage."

The Lewisville Police Department said eight reported thefts of wheels and tires occurred between Aug. 13 and Sept. 1.

Smock's car doesn't fit the mold for the trend, but the 17 other cars targeted this year were Toyota Corollas and Camrys.

"Really think about looking into where you're parking. Are you in a well lit area? Do you have a garage? Can you park in your garage? If you do, park in your garage, can you shut the door? Other options to deter this crime or criminal activity is getting lug nut locks. They're pretty affordable. They come in packs of four. There's only one lock per-tire, and then you're the only person with the key to that lock. So it's very affordable solution to stop someone from removing wheel from your car," said Roberts. “If you are parking street side and not on your own property, try to park with your wheel at a 45 degree angle close to the curb. It makes it very difficult to get a lug nut wrench in there to try to start removing the tires."

Smock, whose car is of sentimental value since it was given to her by her mother, who died from cancer three years ago, said the vehicle was parked in front of her home on the street.

“I think a lot of people have said, 'You know, you should have had wheel locks.' I did have wheel locks. The police told me that what they (suspects) do is because it's a 2015 Chrysler 300, they just have wheel locks for another 2015 Chrysler 300, and it works because they were stock," explained Smock.

Police said the suspected thieves have been targeting stock wheels, meaning the ones that come with the vehicle.

“I definitely will start parking a little bit slanted, though, because it doesn't make it as easy," said Smock. "I just think, be aware of your surroundings and you know, I think if it had been parked in the driveway, it might have been a little bit safer, but who knows. So I'm sorry for anybody else who has to go through it."

Smock said a family member loaned her some money to get a rental, and she's waiting on insurance to fix her car.

“I luckily have insurance and I have family that can help me, but I think about those people that don't, like single mothers or something like that, where they don't have the financial ability to be able to I mean, what do you do?" said Smock.

Lewisville Police said a separate wave of similar thefts involving nine different cars occurred between April 20 and May 22. In that case, police arrested Yeferson M. Arenas Bello, 25, for theft.

"Now, since then, we've had another rash of these same type of thefts and currently, the Criminal Investigation Department said that they have leads they're working on, but they have not provided me any additional information on it," explained Roberts.