El Centro police alert locals of stolen jeeps
EL CENTRO.Calif(KYMA)- Law enforcement is advising locals to secure their vehicles after several jeep wranglers and other similar cars were stolen in Imperial County.
El Centro police say they are seeing an increase of stolen jeeps in the city.
“They are taking Jeeps away, it’s the Wranglers and the Gladiators mostly," said Karla Ville, investigator with the El Centro police department.
El Centro police say the vehicles with a push to start systems are the ones being targeted.
“They don’t use the key, they use the push start because it is electronically, so they are using an electronic device to cut of the alarm system and then breaking into it and opening it and starting it electronically with the system that they have themselves," said Ville.
The investigator say the jeeps are being stolen between midnight and 4 am.
She says it takes at least one to five minutes to take a vehicle.
"The people that are doing it, what they have in common are juveniles, so they are under 18 the ones who are the drivers of those vehicles, However there is a follow up car right behind them that drops them off and then the juvenile picks up the stolen car and takes it with them," said Ville.
Police say sometimes the vehicles are taken to mexico.
Jeeps are also being stolen in Yuma, San Diego and Riverside California.
Karina Bazarte will have more tonight.
