Many of us have that “one that got away,” a car we once owned that we later wish we hadn’t gotten rid of (mine is a B13 Nissan Sentra SE-R). It seems that auto thieves may have similar regrets at times. The Hartford Courant reports that a previously stolen and recovered vehicle was stolen and recovered again, less than two weeks later.
According to the Waterbury Police Department, the victim was originally carjacked at her home on November 23. The perpetrator allegedly followed her home, pushed her, took her key fob, and stole the vehicle, a 2015 Honda Civic. Police soon recovered the car and returned it to the owner, but not the key fob. On December 3, the Civic was stolen again. It only took the police an hour to track it down this time, and they arrested Aaron Rodriguez De Los Santos at the gas station where he had stopped. Drugs were found in the car this time, leading to charges not only of larceny of a motor vehicle (first offense) but also two counts of possession of narcotics with intent to sell. Charges for the original theft are still pending.
Striking the same place twice
We’ve written countless articles about dumb car thieves. Even among law-abiding citizens, it’s a common superstition to never return to the scene of a crime. I would not put this story into the “dumb thief” category. Crime is often about taking the path of least resistance. When my apartment was robbed years ago, they took some cash and a couple of easily swiped electronic items, but nothing that would take much time to find or swipe. In this case, the alleged thief already had the key fob, so he didn’t need any electronic trickery. He already knew where the car lived from the previous theft. He could easily just show up and steal it. Again.
The Honda Civic is consistently one of the most stolen cars in America, and for good reason. Its security system isn’t the most modern, particularly in older models like the 2015 model stolen here. Hondas are like Lego, and there’s always demand for parts, especially from high-performance models. Civics are also just great to drive. I have no idea if this was among the alleged thief’s reasons for stealing this one, but he’d have good taste if it was. Not that good taste would justify grand theft auto, of course.
