Broken Dreams: Auto shop owner beset by break-ins, frustrated by police

Rod Whaley can't catch a break.

In late 2008, the 61-year-old former Marine and Vietnam War veteran opened his dream auto restoration shop in Empire with his wife, Lenore Ulrich.

Since then they've had more than 20 break-ins at Classic Dreams. He estimates that burglars have taken off with or damaged some $200,000 worth of cars, parts, tools and accessories.

It's enough to bring a small business owner to his knees, but the monetary loss is only part of Whaley's problems. He said the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department response to his burglaries and vandalism has been almost as frustrating.

"We've been broken into so many times and all the Sheriff's Department says is write down a list of the things you're missing," Whaley said. "Then all I get is a case number. We're at the point where we're mad at the Sheriff's Department. I pay my taxes and I'm not getting a fair shake from these guys."

Undersheriff Bill Heyne said the department has 11 reports on file from Classic Dreams for everything from commercial burglaries to stolen vehicles and vandalism. The last report was from this Thursday, when burglars broke into the shop's 3-acre yard and stripped car parts.

But early Friday morning the burglars were back to take even more, Whaley said.

He said he hasn't bothered to call the sheriff with every incident, but the times he has the response has been minimal. He said deputies came out only a handful of times to survey the damage.

A deputy came out on Friday afternoon to take crime scene photos and gather evidence. But Whaley said that response was only after he contacted the media, his congressman, his assemblyman and the state insurance commissioner.

"As long as I rattle the cage, they'll be out here," he said.

Most incidents too small

Heyne said most of the incidents at Classic Dreams were too small to warrant a deputy response, from stolen cars to broken windows.

"A case may or may not be assigned to a detective depending on whether or not there is anything to go on," Heyne said. "And then the detective will typically read the case, but then only work the cases where there are suspects, physical evidence, vehicle descriptions or license plates. If there is nothing else to go on, the case is closed out."

He said the last incident that warranted a follow-up was a commercial burglary report in November. The department, like law enforcement agencies across the state, has cut back as the recession has taken a toll on its budget.

The Empire area where Whaley's store sits has one dedicated sheriff's deputy, who patrols an area spanning Empire to Riverbank, and a community deputy who also patrols Modesto's airport neighborhood.

Budget cuts have taken the number of detectives the department has from 20 to 14 (not including the gang unit and other specialized units), to cover the county's 1,500-square-mile area. Empire used to have its own dedicated detective, but that position was cut in February.

"It's like a hospital, it's a triage," Heyne said. "If there is physical evidence or suspect information those are the cases that come out first. We've had to strip down the department with budget cuts. We do not have the resources to work every theft that occurs in this county."

Whaley said while he understands the department has limited resources, he is running out of his own as well. In one of the earlier break-ins last summer the thieves broke his alarm system. He still has surveillance cameras, but the monitors and computers that ran them were stolen.