Well, football season is in full-swing, and it appears that some enterprising thieves in the Santa Clarita Valley have been taking tailgating to an unfortunate extreme. According to law enforcement officials, 9 victims have come forward over the past 10-months and reported that the tailgates have been stolen. The thefts don’t appear to be targeted, as the victims were from a variety of Santa Clarita Valley neighborhoods and no patterns have so far been discovered.
Tailgates can be pretty easy pickings. According to Lr. Brenda Cambra, head of the Detective Section at the Santa Clarita Sheriff Station, an unlocked tailgate can be removed in about a minute, and stolen ones are difficult to identify because they have no VIN numbers or other unique identifying marks. Combine their ease of removal, difficulty in identification, and the fact that they’re worth about $1,000 or more, and it’s easy to see why they pose such a tantalizing target to thieves.
When caught, the suspects will likely face several charges of grand theft, or California Penal Code 487 PC, a “wobbler” in the State of California. If charged as a misdemeanor, the suspects will face up to 1-year in county jail. Felony charges carry the possible penalties of 16-months to 3-years in California state prison. It will be up to the prosecution to decide whether or not to charge the crimes as misdemeanors or felonies.
As for truck owners in the Santa Clarita Valley, sheriff’s deputies advise that you keep your tailgates locked and, if possible, put some sort of identifying mark somewhere on it so that deputies can link it to you if it’s stolen.
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