Cambridge, Ont. teen charged with stealing 10 vehicles

An 18-year-old man from Cambridge, Ont. has been charged with stealing 10 vehicles and trying to make off with three more.

Police say he was using reprogramming technology – which has replaced relay theft as the preferred method thieves use to take vehicles, according to officials.

The teen is believed to have been acting as part of an organized criminal group.

Police also released a video of the one of the thefts. According to investigators, the first one was reported on Dec. 19.

On Jan. 3, officers searched a home in the Preston Parkway Boulevard and Linden Drive in Cambridge and arrested the 18-year-old.

Over the course of the investigation, five of the stolen vehicles, worth a total of $400,000, were recovered.

Police also seized reprograming devices, blank keys, Canadian currency, a black sedan used in the offences, and personal property of the victims.

The accused has been charged with 10 counts of motor vehicle theft and three counts of attempted theft, plus one count of possession of an automobile master key.

Among the ten vehicles the accused is charged with stealing is a Dodge Ram that was taken from a Doon South driveway on Dec. 30, police confirmed. Home surveillance video submitted by a neighbour shows two people breaking into the vehicle before driving away with it. The pickup was found abandoned two days later in Brampton.

HOW DO REPROGRAMMING THEFTS WORK?

Thieves force entry into a vehicle, then use an electronic device to access diagnostics. From there, they can reprogram a blank key fob, start the vehicle and drive away.

"We are seeing a higher number of the reprogramming thefts along the [Highway] 401 corridor, so that Cambridge area, Doon Road area, and really it does come down to accessibility to the 401," WRPS Deputy Chief Jen Davis said at a new conference last month.

In some cases, the vehicles end up in shipping containers destined for resale by organized criminal networks overseas, police said.

HOW TO STOP REPROGRAMMING THEFTS

Police provided these tips to prevent reprogramming thefts:

• Park your vehicle inside a garage, or block your vehicle in with another vehicle.
• Purchase a device to block access to the vehicle’s onboard diagnostic port
• Use a steering wheel lock
• Equip your vehicle with an aftermarket GPS tracker. GPS systems that come standard with some vehicles are frequently disabled by suspects, rendering them ineffective.