NATIONAL CITY (CBS 8) – The theft of a Jeep from a South Bay dealership was caught on video.
The crook stole the vehicle from Jeeps Unclassified on Wednesday night, and it was found ditched Thursday. In the video, the suspect is seen riding into the parking lot of the dealership on a bicycle.
"Woke up and checked the camera, I usually do that every morning before heading to the shop. And I noticed we were missing a Jeep," manager Adil Gashimov said.
The manager thought maybe someone moved it or maybe the owner picked it up. It wasn't until he and a co-worker watched the whole video that they realized what happened.
"He had broken a back window, left, came back on foot to finalize the theft and drove away in the Jeep," Gashimov said.
Jeeps Unclassified in National City is known for tricking out Jeeps, which means they have some expensive toys laying around.
"What really confuses me is why they took the Jeep they took when they had a choice to take a couple of other Jeeps here that in my opinion are worth a lot more money and are a lot more fun to drive, and easier to take if anything," Gashimov said. "He chose to go with the one with a blown engine, a misfiring engine."
That's probably why that Jeep was found a few blocks away. All that's left is to find the suspect.
"Being that it happened at night, the night vision couldn't pick up his face as clearly as we'd like it to, but I think there's enough information for police to locate the guy and track him down," Gashimov said.
We're told the owners of that Jeep are currently out of town. As for police, they're asking anyone with any information to give them a call.