Both instances were in Clearcreek Twp. near Springboro, occurring about 2 p.m. Sept. 13 in the garages of houses while the victims were inside the homes, according to police records.
Following an auto theft report a few weeks earlier in the township and another on Sept. 16, Police Chief John Terrill said authorities are investigating if the crimes are gang related.
A 15-year-old Dayton male is in custody in connection one of last week’s crimes after he was apprehended near Austin Landing in Miami Twp. following a police chase, Terrill said.
More than a dozen other vehicle thefts were reported in West Carrollton and Miami and Washington townships since August — but no suspects — most of them believed to be teenagers — have been identified, authorities said.
“Not all auto thefts have been committed by teens, but the bulk have,” said Miami Twp. Sgt. Paul Nienhaus. “Teen suspects are generally not kept in custody.”
Springboro police, meanwhile, said their department received one report this month of a stolen vehicle. That crime was reported about 4 a.m. Sept. 4 and did not appear to involve masked suspects or a weapon, according to city police records.
But, like police in Clearcreek and Miami townships, Springboro authorities are urging residents to secure their homes, vehicles and other belongings.
In Clearcreek Twp. last week, the first auto theft attempt failed after a woman who recently arrived home returned to the open garage to retrieve groceries, Terrill said.
“Two black females wearing masks attempting to steal her Mercedes,” according to the police report.
“The homeowner reported that she was too frightened by the contact and ran back inside her home and locked the interior garage door,” the report stated.
The suspects fled. Terrill said.
In the second instance minutes later in a nearby neighborhood, two black males wearing masks — one “displaying a gun toward the victim(s)” stole an SUV, according to the police report.
“The cars — the car they arrived in and the stolen car — took off,” Terrill said. “They were spotted at Austin Landing by an unmarked Springboro police car, and the units were called in and a chase began to try to catch them.”
The Dayton teen was taken into custody after he wrecked at the Austin Boulevard/Interstate 75 while the other suspect fled in the stolen SUV, Terrill said.
Nienhaus said many vehicles are taken simply because keys or fobs are being left inside the cars by owners — which occurred in the Sept. 13 and Sept. 16 Clearcreek Twp. thefts — and thieves are simply going vehicle to vehicle until they find these circumstances.
Other teens have equipment purchased online that can create new key fobs for certain cars using generic fobs that can be purchased anywhere, Nienhaus said.
“There are task forces through the state attorney general’s office that are said to be working to stop the sale of this equipment online, but the status of those efforts is unknown,” he said. “In the meantime, auto thefts at this rate are a problem throughout the Miami Valley and, indeed, all of Ohio and … beyond. These numbers represent a problem everywhere in the Midwest that has been occurring for the last couple of years.”
Vehicles are stolen for different reasons, Nienhaus said. Some are just taken as “joy rides” and are left abandoned in nearby areas, he said. Others are used as transports to assist in committing other crimes before being abandoned or destroyed.
