Henderson Police are investigating the theft of three new luxury vehicles from a local car dealership that possibly is related to a spate of similar thefts across the state.
In an interview Wednesday, Police Chief Marcus Barrow told WIZS that the vehicles – a 2023 Cadillac Escalade, a 2023 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and a 2023 Audi Q5 were driven off the lot of Charles Boyd Chevrolet just before 2 a.m. on Sunday, April 16. The vehicles have an estimated value of $235,000.
Three suspects, which video footage from the dealership shows were all wearing dark clothing, hoods, masks and gloves, broke a window to gain entry inside the building, located at 250 Ruin Creek Road. The whole thing occurred in just over 10 minutes.
This seems to match up with several other incidents across the state, Barrow said. “Multiple locations across North Carolina have been hit this year,” he explained. And it appears the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County area is a “homebase.”
The Escalade’s OnStar GPS system was used to locate the vehicle later on Sunday morning in Matthews, Barrow said, which is a Charlotte suburb.
“I think it’s a fairly large criminal organization doing it,” Barrow said of the break-in and larceny. His department is working with authorities in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area, the SBI as well as Homeland Security as the investigation continues.
Many car dealerships have similar setups, with keys in the same area, Barrow noted. It could be that people were watching how people and vehicles enter and exit the building over time, or they could have located particular vehicles at particular dealerships before deciding where to strike.
Barrow said the Boyd family was helpful in contacting other dealerships to figure out where thieves had struck, giving local police information to make calls to law enforcement agencies where previous thefts had occurred.
The break-in occurred at 1:43 a.m. and the vehicles were seen driving off the lot west on US 158 Bypass toward Oxford just 11 minutes later, at 1:54 a.m.
This is an active investigation and Barrow asks anyone with information to contact the Henderson Police Department at 252.438.4141, Crime Stoppers at 252.492.1925 or use the P3 app.
Financial compensation is offered for information leading to the arrest of the
responsible individuals.
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