Man steals confiscated car from Santurce police barracks using GPS and own keys
A 39-year-old man was arrested after stealing a Nissan Kicks from the lot at the 566 police barracks in Santurce, where it had been towed hours earlier.
Vehicle stolen from police lot in Santurce: suspect used GPS to track vehicle to barracks
A 39-year-old man was arrested in the early hours of Sunday on suspicion of stealing a confiscated vehicle that was located in the lot of the 566 barracks in Santurce, San Juan, according to elnuevodia.com.
The vehicle in question, a light grey 2019 Nissan Kicks SR, had been seized the previous night, around 9:50 p.m. on Saturday, at the corner of Calle Palma and Calle San Juan. Personnel from San Juan's Vehicle Theft Investigations Division detected it through a licence-plate analysis system, which indicated that the vehicle had a "missing" lien status in the DAVID system of the Department of Transportation and Public Works.
"It was being sought by the bank. We don't know why," said Lieutenant Nelson Sotelo.
With no owner or custodian found at the location, the vehicle was towed to the division's facilities, located at the rear of the barracks, whilst waiting for rescue unit personnel to open it. However, at 12:15 a.m., officers noticed that the car was no longer in the lot.
"An investigation began to see what had happened," said Sotelo.
After reviewing the monitoring system, around 1:20 a.m. the vehicle was spotted near the barracks and arrived shortly thereafter, at which point the driver was taken into custody.
Sotelo explained that the suspect is the spouse of the vehicle's registered owner, a service member on active duty in the United States. According to the lieutenant, after receiving his legal warnings, the individual provided a written account of his responsibility in the matter.
"The vehicle has a GPS. He tracked it to the barracks, evaded security. Since he has the keys, he starts the vehicle. When he leaves, he moves an orange drone barrier. He takes the vehicle and drives off," the officer detailed.
The lieutenant added that the man claimed to have believed the car had been towed for improper parking, although he acknowledged being aware that removing the vehicle from the barracks constituted a crime.
Sotelo also indicated that when officers seized the vehicle, they observed through the windows that "inside there were some items or private property", which were no longer there when the vehicle returned to the barracks.
Regarding the facility's security measures, the lieutenant acknowledged that they exist but stated that how the suspect's strategy to evade controls remains unknown. "What opportunity did he take advantage of to do it? That is something internal that the agency's senior officials are working on to logically learn from this, to increase security measures and coordinate it through the chain of command," he stated.
The case was referred to the prosecutor's office for possible charges.
Source: Google News PR — San Juan