Tulsa Car Thieves, Vehicles Still Missing After Overnight Theft

Tulsa police nabbed three teenagers they said took cars overnight from a Lexus dealership. Officers got three of the cars back, but two are still missing.

The thefts and arrests left the Lexus of Tulsa dealership praising police work, evaluating security, and wondering what the teenaged thieves were thinking.

Not only are they stepping up overnight security, they're removing key boxes from vehicles - at least for now - to prevent copycats after thieves took vehicles overnight.

"Some young kids I guess broke into the cars through the lock boxes on the cars and drove them out the main gate," said General Manager, David Litzinger.

The teens stole five cars from the dealership near 41st and Memorial.

"It is frustrating. You wish other things would happen around the holidays rather than coming down to the dealership at one in the morning," Litzinger said.

Fortunately, a Tulsa police officer was at the right place at the right time and saw one of the cars leaving.

12/30/2014 Related Story: Tulsa Police Chase Down Three Teens In Luxury Car Thefts

"They did such a great job. Professionally they were Johnny on the spot, they kept us informed, they really did a very, very nice job," said Litzinger.

The teenagers drove off in different directions, starting several pursuits by officers.

Police used stop sticks to stop one stolen car near Highway 75 and 36th Street North, arresting the driver.

Nearby police dogs chased and caught two more suspects.

Litzinger said, "It seems like what they want to do with them is just go for a joy ride, there's no long term intention, there's no intent to sell the vehicle or anything like that. It's typically a joy ride."

While police hope to find other suspects, and recover two stolen cars, Litzinger said damage to the recovered cars isn't extensive and can be fixed, but the action by the young thieves is costly, time consuming, and wrong.

"There's real people on the other end of your decisions,” he said. “There's a business that is affected, there's consumers that are affected."

The two vehicles that are still missing are a black 2011 Camaro and a white 2011 Tahoe.

Anyone with information that could help investigators should call Crime Stoppers at 918-596-COPS.