In business the old adage says you need to have three things for success: Location, Location and Location. Having a location with immediate proximity to I-94 more often than not is a huge boon. Last night that ease of access proximity likely played proved costly for a Benton Harbor new car dealer. It likely played a major role in the work of what appears to have been a professional band of thieves who targeted Brookfield Chrysler, Dodge & Jeep of Benton Harbor.
Brookfield Manager Andy Beam says that sometime in the middle of the night thieves attacked a row of brand new Dodge Ram trucks and stripped every wheel and tire from a total of six of those expensive trucks. The vehicles were clearly jacked up, stripped of the tire and wheel combinations and then lowered directly onto the tarmac sitting on the rotors and chassis. Even the lug nuts were left behind.
Beam says that Benton Township Police were called out to the dealership along Pipestone across from Meijer and the Orchards Mall and conducted a thorough investigation, but everybody believes that the theft was clearly the job of professional thieves who rolled in off the interstate and jumped back on with the loot headed to somewhere else to unload their booty.
Beam says, “We have been in the Benton Harbor market for five years now and in that time nothing of this kind has ever happened to us. We’ve enjoyed an outstanding relationship with this community, and never been targeted in any manner, that’s why we are pretty sure that this wasn’t simply some guys or the kids down the street acting up.” He says it was clearly a professional hit by seasoned thieves who got in, out and on with their lives and his wheels and tires in very short order.
He says, in fact, that many community members have stopped by after pictures were posted on Facebook asking for help in tracking down whoever stole the wheels and tires overnight.
If anybody in the local area saw or heard anything regarding this crime, they are asked to contact the Benton Township Police Department. Meanwhile, Beam’s crew is trying to figure out exactly how costly the theft was, and his service department is pricing out brand new wheels and tires. Then too, they’ll need to determine what, if any, damage was done to any of the vehicles by leaving them flat on the ground with no wheel support.
Beam says it’s hard to determine what that might look like when they get the vehicles into the shop and on a lift for full scale inspections.
Photo credit to Sally Sexton.
