Following an auto theft report a few weeks earlier in the township, Police Chief John Terrill said authorities are investigating if the crimes are gang related.
A 15-year-old Dayton male is custody in connection one of last week’s crimes after he was apprehended near Austin Landing in the Miamisburg area following a police chase, Terrill said.
Springboro police, meanwhile, said their department received one report this month of a stolen vehicle. That crime was reported about 4 a.m. Sept. 4 and did not appear to involve masked suspects or a weapon, according to city police records.
But, like Clearcreek Twp. police, Springboro authorities are urging city residents to secure their homes, vehicles and other belongings.
In Montgomery County, Miami Twp. Police Department has taken reports for 13 stolen vehicles for August and the first half of September.
There have been no arrests for any of these, as there are no leads to any suspect identity yet, according to Sgt. Paul Nienhaus. The suspects, however, are believed to be mostly teenagers, based on arrests made in the past by this and other departments of teens in stolen cars, he said.
“Not all auto thefts have been committed by teens, but the bulk have,” Nienhaus said. “Teen suspects are generally not kept in custody.”
In Washington Twp., vehicles were reported stolen Sept. 4 in the 900 block of Ashcreek Drive, and Sept. 6 in the 800 block of Peach Leaf Drive, according to Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office police reports. In addition, someone broke into a vehicle overnight Sept. 6 in the 500 block of Old Harbor Court, but did not steal the car and a trailer was reported stolen Sept. 12 in the 7000 block of Corporate Way.
Nienhaus said many vehicles are taken simply because keys or fobs are being left inside the cars by owners, and thieves are simply going vehicle to vehicle until they find these circumstances. Other teens have equipment purchased online that can create new key fobs for certain cars using generic fobs that can be purchased anywhere.
“There are task forces through the state attorney general’s office that are said to be working to stop the sale of this equipment online, but the status of those efforts is unknown,” he said. “In the meantime, auto thefts at this rate are a problem throughout the Miami Valley and, indeed, all of Ohio and beyond, not just Miami Twp. These numbers represent a problem everywhere in the Midwest that has been occurring for the last couple of years.
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