With the colder weather, more drivers are warming up their cars in front of their homes before leaving to go to work. It’s also an opportunity for thieves to steal your car.
That happened to a Johnston County woman on Tuesday.
Around 6:10am, the victim said she was warming up her car in her driveway in the Twisted Oaks subdivision off Josephine Road in Cleveland. When she went outside minutes later her car was gone.
The victim immediately notified the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office and called OnStar. OnStar was able to help deputies track the car to a location a few miles away. The car had been left abandoned and there was no apparent damage. Officers are still looking for the suspect.
Most of the ‘warm up’ thefts have happened in larger cities but are now becoming more prevalent in small towns and communities with car thieves patrolling neighborhoods looking for idling cars with no one behind the wheel. In some larger cities it is against the law to warm up your car more than two minutes, but police departments rarely cite the offenders. Warm up thefts have also been reported at businesses and convenience stores.
