DETROIT – Thieves are using cloned keys to steal Dodge muscle cars and other high-powered vehicles directly from dealerships and even automakers in Michigan, then selling them for tens of thousands of dollars less than they’re worth, according to authorities and court records.
For an Ohio-based theft ring, it all came crashing down after a January robbery of a US postal worker led authorities to connect several men to brazen carjackings in the Detroit area, long home to the country’s largest automakers, including Dodge, which is now owned by international conglomerate Stellantis.
Investigators then discovered that new Chargers, Challengers, Durangos and Ram pickups worth $50,000 to $100,000 were showing up at shipping ports in Ohio, Indianapolis and the East Coast after being sold on the street for between $3,500 and $15,000 dollars, according to a criminal complaint.
Thieves in the Detroit area mainly go after Dodge vehicles with Hellcat engines, including Chargers and Challengers, “the fast ones,” Sgt. Jerry Hanna with the Macomb Auto Theft Squad said.
“If a patrol car gets them, they don’t stop and they’re faster than patrol cars. They go 150 mph all day,” he said.
Instead of stealing them off the street, they source them directly from dealerships and assembly plant lots.
That same year, about a half-dozen vehicles, mostly Dodge Ram TRX pickup trucks, were taken from a lot outside an assembly plant in Macomb County.
After security measures were tightened at some Dodge vehicle lots, more than a dozen 2022 Ford F-150 Raptor pickup trucks were towed from a plant in June in suburban Dearborn. More than a dozen Ford Mustangs were stolen in early September from the automaker’s assembly plant in Flat Rock, southeast of Detroit.
According to the federal complaint in the Ohio case, thieves have been targeting Dodges using portable electronic “professional pads” — a locksmith tool that can clone keys by plugging into the vehicles’ interior ports.
Authorities weren’t looking for stolen vehicles when they pulled over Devin Rice on Jan. 31 after a postal worker in Shaker Heights, outside Cleveland, was robbed at gunpoint of a mailbox key. But court records show that a search of his car and then his home turned up not only stolen mail, fake checks and credit and debit cards, but also a Ram pickup truck, a Range Rover SUV and a Dodge with a Hellcat engine, all stolen .
Rice and others were indicted in Ohio federal court in June. Jaylen Harris, Lavelle Jones and Hakim Benjamin are charged with conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen vehicles. Rice, Harris and Jones are also charged with mail theft. Their trials are scheduled for next year.
Harris’ attorney declined comment. The AP left email and phone messages seeking comment from attorneys for Benjamin, Rice and Jones.
Harris told the FBI that he and Jones had been in contact through Instagram with people in the Detroit area to get stolen vehicles, according to the complaint. Harris said these thieves “also sold to buyers in other areas, including Chicago and Indianapolis,” the complaint said.
Videos posted on social media show how the high-powered vehicles overtook and evaded police.
A judge stated in an arrest warrant that “Benjamin drove a 2022 Dodge Challenger valued at $95,000 at 120 mph on State Route 2 in Ohio on a Sunday evening in February.”
“Finally it took spike strips to remind Benjamin that he was required by law to comply with police orders,” the judge wrote.
About two years ago, police in Ohio’s Ottawa County began noticing vehicles flying along State Route 2. The sheriff’s office received calls about reckless driving, Capt. Aaron Leist said.
“These cars go 140-150 mph. They all have Hellcat engines. We had a lot of activity. We didn’t catch them all,” he said.
Investigators learned the vehicles were primarily stolen in the Detroit area and taken to Cleveland. Some were also bound for Memphis, Tenn., Leist said.
“We started working with (Stellantis) in early 2022,” he said. “They would call us and say, ‘We’re missing these cars.’
A spokeswoman for Stellantis declined to comment.
Added security measures at some lots have included concrete barriers, according to law enforcement.
Then, last fall, he walked into a dealership showroom in northwest Detroit. Someone drove a Ram pickup truck through the building’s glass wall and “all the other cars followed suit,” said Jeff Schneider, general manager of Szott Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in Highland Township.
“I think they were able to find some keys in a desk drawer and used them,” he added.
Police tracked one of the stolen cars, a Durango Hellcat SRT valued at about $100,000, to a northwest Detroit suburb. The driver had crashed into a brick wall while fleeing. A 2021 Dodge Durango GT, a 2021 Dodge Ram TRX and a 2017 Dodge Charger Hellcat SRT were later recovered.
Authorities arrested four people. The vehicles were not believed to have been stolen, but they had paid $5,000 for one.
“In the Detroit area they sell for about $3,500,” Hanna said. “Once they have that money in their pocket, they go out and steal another one.”
For dealers and their insurance companies, the cost is high. Even repossessed vehicles cannot be sold for what they were worth before.
Schneider said his dealership came up with an “old school” solution: parking boots.
“It’s a deterrent that works surprisingly well,” he said. “We put boots on all the Hellcats.”