Dealership offers reward for stolen wheels

CRESTVIEW — A local car dealership is offering a reward for information about a theft that occurred on its premises last week.

Employees at Allen Turner Chevrolet arrived at work the morning of April 19 to find four vehicles had been vandalized. Owner Allen Turner is offering a $1,000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest and successful prosecution.

Two new Chevrolet Tahoes and a used GMC pickup truck had the tires and wheels stolen from them. The stolen wheels included four 22-inch chrome wheels, four 22-inch aluminum wheels and four 20-inch chrome wheels.

Other vehicles appeared to be damaged in the process.

“One of the Tahoes fell of the jack and rolled into a new car with minimal damage on it, but they also broke the window out of a Suburban to get to a jack on the back of it,” Turner said.

The jack was found still underneath the Tahoe that had slipped. There was also a crushed concrete block under another part of the same vehicle.

“I don’t know exactly why they needed another jack, because it looked like they were pretty organized,” Turner said. “They brought their own concrete blocks, so they knew what they were doing when they got here.”

The dealership is monitoring possible avenues of sale to attempt to identify the stolen parts. Crestview police are also investigating the theft.

“The Crestview Police Department came right away and filled out a report, very helpful,” Turner said. “They assured us that they would give us some extra surveillance going forward.”

Turner said the dealership will still have to order replacement wheels and tires for the vehicles even if the stolen parts are recovered.

“(The reward) pales in comparison to what we’ll spend replacing these tires and wheels, but at the same time, we’d just rather see a criminal caught and justice served to try to curtail that.”

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Dealership offers reward for stolen wheels