$120,000 of rims, tires stolen from Slidell Chevrolet dealership

SLIDELL (WVUE) - More than $120,000 worth of tires and rims were stolen Saturday off of vehicles at Matt Bowers Chevrolet in Slidell.

At a news conference Wednesday, Slidell Police Chief Randy Fandal said the thieves were no amateurs and went as far as to manipulate the lighting on the property as to not be noticed.

The locks on the exterior gates were also cut.

“It looks like they pulled down one of the cameras and they also manipulated the outdoor lighting system,” Fandal said.

He believes the suspects are from out of state. Similar crimes have occurred in Texas and Oklahoma.

Matt Bowers also spoke at the news conference and is offering a $25,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction of those responsible for the thefts.

“I’m not going to stop,” Bowers said. "I might go up. I’m not going to let this go. We’re going to bring these people back and they’re going to go to jail.”

Surveillance video shows two subjects walking across the parking lot in order to cut the locks to a side-entrance. A short while later, a U-Haul truck pulls up and enters the rear parking lot of the dealership.

Approximately 40 minutes later, the U-Haul truck leaves and exits on to the service road towards Old Spanish Trail. It is believed that the suspects were working on removing the tires from the vehicles several hours before the U-Haul truck appears on the video.

The only thing the thieves left behind were some wooden blocks used to prop up the vehicles, and a car jack.

Fandal also added that the Slidell Police Department is working with other agencies to determine who is responsible.

“We don’t put up with it here. This won’t be the first time we travel out of state to come find you," Fandal said. "We will find you and you will be brought back here. You’re probably the same person that did in Texas and Oklahoma but now you’ve done it here.”

He urged the community to come forward if they have any information and stressed that this will not be tolerated in Slidell.

There have been no other reports of thefts from other car dealerships in the area.