We hate to see things like this happen. Mike Gomez, of Glendale, Arizona, recently wrote to us looking for help locating a straight body for his Mustang. Why? We’ll let him tell the story:

Thirty some years ago I came to own my first 69 Mustang, little did I know how unique a car I had. It was a 428 Mach 1 Cobra Jet 4 speed with a 9″ positraction rear end, power steering, power brakes and tilt steering wheel. I bought the car from my cousin when he got too many tickets and his Dad made him sell it. I had the car for about three years, then got married and sold it to buy my first house. I’ve owned many other cars that today are worth a fortune, who knew that they would go up in value so much.

Well, years passed and I always regretted selling the Mustang so I made a decision with my Wife, Sheri, to get a project car. She found a 69 Mustang on the Internet back in Illinois and we bought the car looking only at the pictures on the Internet. That is the last time I’ll do that!

Continue reading this story and watch a news report about this terrible incident over at Hemmings.

GPS trackers often allow authorities to quickly find stolen vehicles.

GPS trackers for vehicles prove–time and time again– to be one of the most effective options available for protecting your automobiles.  KCTV in Kansas City reported just yesterday that police recovered two stolen vehicles, a new pickup truck and an SUV, in a matter of 90 minutes after they were taken from their husband and wife owners by thieves who followed the victims home from a carwash. Turns out, one of the vehicles was a equipped with a GPS tracking system which ultimately led police to both of the vehicles, and the suspects.  Read the entire article here.

If your business or personal vehicles aren’t equipped with GPS trackers, you’re missing out one one of the most cost-effective ways to protect some of your most valuable assets.  With a variety of choices and manyselections in the $300-$400 range, a minimal investment can greatly increase your chances of a fast recovery, or perhaps even deter a thief altogether.  Today’s GPS trackers can be a stand alone units tossed in a glove box or attached to a car via a magnetic case, or hard-wired into the vehicle’s battery.  And, thanks to sophisticated GPS tracking software, you can track your assets in amazing, real-time detail. 

For more information about protecting your vehicles with real time  GPS tracking systems, please visit TrackingTheWorld.Com.

By Calvin Palmer

A Detroit teenager accused of killing two women while driving a stolen U.S. Army van last year has died from injuries sustained after crashing another stolen vehicle.

Gary Williams, 17, died on Sunday in Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

Police say he stole a car on Friday and was injured after drove through a red light and hit another car at the intersection of Warren and Scotten.

Williams and four other teens were in a stolen 2000 Dodge Stratus, which struck a Metro Car Lincoln driven by a 66-year-old employee.

The condition of the driver and the four other teens is not known.

Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office said Williams was charged Saturday with second-degree murder in connection with the August 9 deaths of Unique Neely, 19, and LaVette Lee, 20, both of Detroit.

DNA evidence tentatively implicating Williams in that crash did not get processed until last month because of a crime lab backlog.

Prosecutors had planned to arraign Williams if his condition improved. Two other youths who were in the van with Williams are being investigated.

Rosie Gardner, Neely’s grandmother, called it ironic that Williams died the same way he caused her granddaughter to die last year.

“But he should have never been on the street to cause that second accident,” she said.

[Based on reports by The Detroit News and Associated Press.]

From wcco.com:

Officials in New Jersey are asking for the public’s help in recovering a stolen vehicle.

But as CBS station WCBS-TV found out, this is one cold case the likes of which you’ve probably never seen before.

“Uh, I’ve never seen anything like it before,” said Belleville Police Capt. Mark Minichini said.

It seems a 7-foot tall and 8-foot long, 1,000-pound gold Cinderella carriage, a feature in the town’s annual Columbus Day Parade, has vanished into thin air. Stolen.

Bibbidi bobbidi boo!

We have taken a little siesta from blogging for the past few months, but we’re back.  

Up on the top of the page you will see a few new tabs.  

We want you to tell us about your experiences with vehicle theft.  

We want to help with any alarm troubles that may be plaguing  you or haunting your car.  

If you have had an exceptionally professional installation done on your car and you would like to recognize the folks who handled your precious automobile, give them props here.

We will continue to post news stories that fascinate us along with anything else that my help prevent even one theft.

I was shopping at Target a week or so ago looking for a freakin’ dress for this freakin’ wedding.  Target is one of my absolute places to shop for just about everything!  Clothing, pet stuff, home decor, etc.  It’s just a nicer place to be then god-awful Wal-Mart.  I did find a dress there that I actually purchased.  This was before I found the perfect dress at the mall the other day.  It was just sort of a back up in case I didn’t find anything that I liked at the mall. 

The dress I bought at Target was definitely not ‘dressy’ enough for a black-tie event.  First of all it cotton.  Don’t get me wrong-I LOVE cotton, but I think a black tie event requires some sort of strange, unidentifiable, man-made material. 

Secondly, it was navy blue.  T will be wearing a black tuxedo and I’m not real sure how I feel about navy blue and black.  It might be weird in pictures.  People will look back at their wedding photos and say something like, “I wonder if that girl knew that her dress was navy and not black?”  “She looks awful in that navy dress next to her boyfriend in the black tux.”  And really aren’t wedding photos the most important photos of your life.  I could end up in someones wedding photos….and be there until the end of freakin’ time!  I can’t take this wedding stuff lightly.  I need to look decent for cryin’ out loud. 

Thirdly, the dress had very tiny spaghetti straps.  Don’t get me wrong-I LOVE spaghetti, but…

*Yes folks, I’m seriously that funny!*

…but spaghetti straps aren’t really the most flattering for a girl who has broader shoulders than Micheal Phelps.  Kidding, but gawd they are broad.  And I did feel as if there was a bit too much flesh showing.  I like to keep flesh showing to a minimum most of the time.  So if I would have ultimately gone with the Target dress I would have had to find a shawl or shrug or whatever to go over top of it.  By the time I was done it would have cost the same if not more than the ‘perfect’ dress that I bought at the mall.  Aren’t you dieing to see it? 

The navy blue-cottony-flesh showing-Target dress is sitting in a bag in the back of my car waiting to be returned.  It’s money just waiting to go back into my wallet.  If I wasn’t penny pinching I would probably keep the dress for another occasion like….well…umm…okay so I don’t really have a lot of ‘occasions’ but whatev. 

BUT-the navy-cottony-flesh showing-Target dress is not the point of this post! 

The point of this post is to tell you about a mini-freak out that I had after I was done purchasing the navy-cottony-flesh showing-Target dress. 

It was getting dark when I was leaving the store.  There weren’t a ton of cars in the parking lot.  I was walking directly toward where I thought I had parked my boyfriend’s Escape.

When he’s working in Africa I drive his car sometimes all the time.  Because it makes me feel cool.  So I walked down the aisle where I thought the Escape was.  And then down the next aisle and the next aisle and the next aisle…

Now I have to confess a little here (cuz we keep it real here at PLSF) and tell you that I am notorious for not remembering where I parked my car.  Smart people look at the signs in the parking lot and make a mental note before entering the store.  “Oh look!  I’ve parked my BMW in aisle H-section 21!  I’m a prissy jerk!”  And then they continue into the store, do their shopping, and head back out to their car.  I never can remember to take a look around and actually make note of where I parked.  I had a little freak out this summer at a Wal-Mart where I was wandering the aisles looking for my car.  It was 800 degrees out and I was sweating and getting dehydrated and getting ready to curl up and die.  Then I saw my car.  I also had another incident (at a Kohls store) where I went in one door and somehow went out a different door.  After a good 15 minutes of searching the parking lot I realized what I had done.  Idiot! 

…continuing on…  So I’m out in the Target parking lot wandering around.  I’m looking for my car, but at the same time playing around with my CrackBerry trying to look cool and not like a lost loser.  Sometimes I would stop and pretend to text on my phone while secretly scanning the parking lot.  At the same time I was pressing the Lock button the key thing to see if I could see the lights flashing on and off.  Nope.  Nothing.  I walked around forever pressing the lock button.  It was a good plan actually.  Especially when 798 people are doing the same thing as they are getting in and out of their cars. 

At this point, I’m getting a little freaked out.  I honestly thought that T’s car might have been stolen.  Hey, that crap happens in this City.  I was half way tempted to go talk to the rent a cop sitting in the golf cart across the parking lot.  Maybe he/she could drive me around and help me find my car before I died of exposure.  No.  That’s an absolute last resort.  Then I remember the Emergency horn button that T has on his car!  My car doesn’t have one so I had sorta forgotten about the one on his car.  I was a little reluctant to press the button as it would make me look like a total dork.  Why?  Because I figured that I would be standing right next to the car when the horn went off.  And I was afraid people would point and laugh and write about me on their snarky blogs.  Oh what the heck!  I pressed the button.  Nothing.  No horn.  So I walked around the parking lot again pressing the button.  I had to be at least somewhat close to the vehicle for it to work.  Nothing. 

Okay!  So now I’m getting really worried.  I looked back at the store to see if I had come out the wrong door.  No-that store only has one door.  Idiot proof.  So my heart was racing and I was planning my death as I would have to tell T that while I was out “shopping” his beloved Escape had been stolen!!!  How are we going to survive with one vehicle?  Will the police ever find it?  Will it be on the news in some sort of police chase? 

And then it hit me….

I hadn’t drove T’s car to Target. 

I had driven my car. 

My beautiful silver Pontiac Vibe.

I almost fell over dead right there in the parking lot. 

I started pressing the lock button on MY key thingy.  And there she was.  Sitting proudly exactly where I had left her. 

Yes-I had walked by my very own car probably 6 times. 

Yes-I’m a moron! 

So-if you have two vehicles that you periodically use, don’t take both keys with you to the store.  Only take the keys to the actual vehicle that you will be driving.  It will possibly help you avoid public embarassment and inner shame. 

But you’re probably a smarty pants and can actually recall the vehicle that you drove to your destination. 

Whatev. 

J

Just today our news feed sent us a message about auto theft as it relates to auto salvage yards.  An article in the Polk County Democrat (Florida) describes how an investigation into stolen and unrecovered vehicles led authorities to salvage yards. In Bartow, FL 3%-4% of 800 vehicles inspected have turned up stolen.  Most vehicles were older and higher mileage.  Also, most showed visible signs of being stolen (either hotwired or ignition popped).  The criminals selling the stolen cars are getting about $10 for every 100 pounds and the crushed vehicle is in turn resold by the salvage yard for scrap metal.

For the full story, follow this link:

http://www.polkcountydemocrat.com/articles/2008/09/03/news/01cartheft.txt

*published June 11, 2009
Police Department to start up summer curfew detail
BY VANESSA C. DEGGINS

Lake Charles police have arrested the last of 11 people they believe went on a two week “violent crime spree” in the area, Police Chief Don Dixon said Wednesday at a news conference.

“The males — ranging from ages 15 to 21 — were believed to be a part of a gang operating in the vicinity of Pear and Rena streets,” Dixon said.

Arrested were Jessie Lee Thomas and Devin Quinn Joseph, both 17, on armed robbery and carjacking charges; Terrell Lemelle McCree, 20, on charges of obstruction of justice; Demetrius Durell Nash, 20, on charges of possession of a stolen vehicle and burglary of a vehicle; and Dominic Jamal Williams, 21, on charges of monetary instrument abuse and possession of counterfeit money.

The names of the other six involved — all juveniles — were not released.

Dixon said Detective Frank Fondel began investigating the crimes May 15. Law enforcers believe they continued until May 29.

“He found a pattern to the crimes and determined that they were based at 1807 and 1809 N. Pear streets,” Dixon said.

Fondel, along with the SWAT team, set up surveillance of the homes before executing search warrants for both.

On May 29, they arrested Williams leaving the home. In the car he was driving, Dixon said, they found counterfeit money hidden in a compartment behind the glove box.

“In the home we recovered marijuana, a shotgun, more counterfeit money, boxes of shell casings, a scanner/printer, printing paper and a 9 mm we believe was used in the carjacking,” Dixon said.

All of those arrested remain in the Calcasieu Correctional Center and the Juvenile Detention Center.

Dixon said he contacted the U.S. Secret Service and that it is now assisting with the investigation.

“What we believe we are dealing with is a territorial gang, and there are others we are also looking at,” Dixon said.

He reiterated the issue of parental responsibility. He said the department had planned to start up its summer curfew details in mid-June but began deploying officers recently because of problems in the Huber Park area.

“It seems like every year when school gets out, things go crazy,” Dixon said. “It’s the same this year.”

He said he purposely was careful with overtime so that he could afford the summer details. He estimated the department has about $29,000 to use.

“We will continue to use computer-generated statistics to find any hot spots (of crime) and use our details to target the areas,” Dixon said.

article link: http://bit.ly/1K5JJW