Modesto drops out of the top five in one of the most notorious annual lists

Vehicle thefts in Modesto and the rest of Stanislaus County continued to decline in 2017, giving investigators hope that efforts to curb this type of crime are working.

Public awareness and vehicle manufacturing advances seem to be doing the trick. But there still are plenty of auto thefts and subsequent arrests each week, said California Highway Patrol Sgt. Mayolo Bañuelos.

“We’re still busy, busier than ever,” said Bañuelos, who also is a member of Stanislaus County Auto Theft Task Force.

The multiagency task force includes investigators from the CHP, along with the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department, Probation Department and District Attorney’s Office.

The Modesto Metropolitan Area – which encompasses Stanislaus County and all of its cities – had 3,870 vehicle thefts last year, for a rate of 706 thefts per 100,000 residents.

The Modesto area ranked No. 7 in a list for the cities with the highest auto theft rates in the nation, according to a report released July 12 by the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

The 2017 ranking is an improvement for the Modesto area. In 2016, the area was ranked No. 4. It topped the list at No. 1 in 2015; the seventh time it was ranked first since 2004.

“We’ve been working hard every day to drop in that ranking each year,” Bañuelos said.

Investigators in Stanislaus County have encountered a new method for selling stolen vehicles. Bañuelos said the task force recently found a 2017 GMC Denali pickup stolen from Illinois. The pickup was worth $70,000, but it was sold for $20,000 in Stanislaus County. It was done by switching the vehicle identification number, or VIN.

Bañuelos said switching the VIN is being done with vehicles stolen in other states. The stolen vehicles are brought to California and sold via online sites, such as eBay or OfferUp.

In May, NICB announced it worked with law enforcement officials in in Daytona Beach, Fla., to identify a number of online sales of vehicles using the OfferUp mobile app. These vehicles are listed below market value and sold with fake VIN numbers and/or phony titles.

The NICB uses law enforcement and U.S. census data to compile its annual Hot Spots report. The Des Plaines, Ill.,-based NICB is a nonprofit organization funded by insurers.

The Albuquerque, N.M., metropolitan area was ranked first with 9,989 vehicle thefts in 2017, for a rate of 1,096 thefts per 100,000 residents. Redding at No. 4 and Bakersfield at No. 6 were the only other California metropolitan areas that ranked higher than Modesto last year.

The Stockton-Lodi area ranked No. 8 and the Yuba City area No. 9 in 2017. The Merced area ranked No. 22.

NICB officials said in a news release that vehicle theft overall was down across the nation in 2017. The historic peak year for vehicle theft was 1991, with more than 1.6 million reported thefts.

Some common sense tips can help prevent vehicle thefts, such as removing keys from the ignition, locking your doors and windows and parking in well-lit areas

From 2013 through 2015, NICB found that 147,434 vehicles were reported stolen with the keys left in them — 57,096 in 2015 alone. The colder winter months in the Northern San Joaquin Valley prompt some residents to leave their vehicles unattended while they’re warming the engines.

The auto theft task force goes out during those cold mornings to find running unattended vehicles and warn their owners how they can become easy targets for thieves.

The task force also hands out free steering wheel locks for owners of vehicles that are commonly stolen in the area.

Bañuelos said the task force’s investigations are still the same. The investigators learn of hot spots for vehicle thefts and conduct surveillance to try to catch thieves red-handed. They also track down repeat offenders, and they share information with law enforcement agencies throughout the county.

Vehicle thefts are a crime of opportunity for some thieves. Bañuelos said they’ve learned of work trucks stolen because thieves want to get their hands on the valuable equipment and tools. There also are the “old school” thieves who steal vehicles to sell in pieces to “chop-shops.”

But advances in vehicle manufacturing have also proven to thwart vehicle thefts. They include smart keys, fuse cutoffs, kill switches and disablers for the starter, ignition and the fuel pump.

“You can’t break the steering column and hot-wire the car,” Bañuelos said. “It’s making it a little more difficult for (thieves) to beat that.”

This story was originally published August 31, 2018 at 3:15 PM.