A rash of car thefts in the area of Great Falls, Montana provoked the interest of a number of law enforcement agencies recently, as spokespeople told the Great Falls Tribune that the spike in stolen cars could be connected to nearby Spokane, Washington, and associated drug crime.
One spokesman for the Great Falls Police Department told the Tribune that the thefts were both unusual in their number and profile, given that relatively few of the stolen vehicles were recovered in the wake of the thefts. Usually, the spokesman said, a stolen car is found relatively quickly, having been stripped for parts and valuables.
According to the Tribune, police think that the uptick in thefts – 96 over a six-month period that saw just 77 in the previous year – is linked to drug trafficking, and worked by stealing cars in Great Falls and then selling them for money or narcotics in Spokane. The police added that the ring had gotten bigger recently.
One incident that contributed to the expansion of the police investigation, according to the paper, was a raid on an auto parts warehouse in Spokane by the Washington State Police that discovered parts of a pickup truck that had been stolen in Great Falls. State Police also told the Tribune that they had recovered three stolen motorcycles from other locations in Spokane.
Auto insurance rates can be affected by such a rash of stolen cars, as insurance companies will look closely at the potential risks involved in providing coverage for a vehicle located in an area with a high incidence of auto theft, adjusting their premiums accordingly.
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