Jalopnik: car thief

Laughing Car Thief Steals Bait Car, Stops Laughing

Matt Hardigree — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:00:00 EDT

The Houston Police Department has assembled a fleet of bait cars in the hope of capturing car thieves. At the very least, they've captured some hilarious video of robbers becoming victims of their own hubris.

The addition of audio recording makes these videos all the more enjoyable. There's the first individual, unable to stop laughing about how easy it was to steal the car... until he realizes why. Another individual calls a friend to brag about his good luck. Our favorite has to be the pair at the end with their promises of a police chase and "not going back to jail." Oh, and she claims to be pregnant. Classy!

Everyone seems to be smoking in this videos, which makes believe no one here is capable of making long-term decisions about their well-being. According to the police, they're a perfect 52-52 in arrests and convictions because it's hard to mount a defense when they have you on video calling someone to brag about stealing a car from inside a stolen car. Enjoy the video below.

[Houston Chronicle]

Car Thief Soils Self After Finding Cop In Passenger Seat

Ben Wojdyla — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:10:00 EDT

A 16-year-old car thief attempting his craft in Centerville, Utah was startled to find Deputy Chad Taylor in the passenger seat. Attempting to escape, he ran hard enough to lose both shoes. Then shat himself.

The Deputy cornered and arrested the young thief in a friends house after the derelict tried to outrun the officer. During the chase he lost both shoes, control of his bladder and his bowels. Said Deputy Taylor, "You could smell him. He told us, 'Yeah, I crapped my pants.'" This is one instance where a thief was literally scared shitless by the cops. That's the kind of thing which should garner some kind of special recognition from his unit. An "I made a criminal crap his pants" medal, perhaps. [DailyStar]

Car Thief Calls 911 To Brag, Results Predictable

Wes Siler — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:30:00 EST

What is it with car thieves? A Minnesota man repeatedly dialed 911 after stealing a car to brag that cops couldn't catch him. Did they? Yep.

You'd think with relatively high, tax-free profits on offer, the car theft profession would attract a higher quality of practitioner. At least in this instance, that's just not the case.

The 23-year-old didn't start calling 911 until police had already started chasing him, causing him to crash into a guardrail, abandon the car and flee on foot. At that point he was feeling pretty good about his efforts, telling police over the phone that he was smarter than them. Despite these near constant clues to his whereabouts, police lost track of the man until later in the night when a concerned citizen reported a prowler on his property. Police then found the man hiding in a shed. He now faces charges for gas theft, possession of a stolen vehicle, burglary, tampering with a motor vehicle, trespassing, and assaulting an officer. [via CBS]

Car Thief Gets Carjacked In Stolen Car

Matt Hardigree — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:45:00 EDT

Proving there's no honor among thieves, a lowly car thief in Salinas, California was sitting outside a convenience store in his stolen SIlverado pickup when a more violent and armed criminal jumped in the passenger seat and demanded the thief drive the truck away. The carjacker and the car thief hit a bit of a snag when their twice-stolen Chevy ran out of gas. The carjacker then ordered the thief to get out and push, but that untrustworthy thief merely ran away...and called police to report the carjacking of his stolen truck.

Police eventually caught up with the Silverado (we're assuming he didn't imagine the other guy would call the cops) and the carjacker led them on a short chase that ended in a wreck. Said local police, "you couldn't make up something stranger than this." Actually, in our version Shia LaBeouf is driving. Victory: us! [AP via Dallas News]