MILWAUKEE — A criminal complaint from Kenosha County as well as several search warrants from Milwaukee County, show 20 high-end vehicles have been stolen from the parking structure at Milwaukee's Mitchell Airport in the last year.
According to court records, Dodge Ram TRX's, Dodge Hellcats and certain types of Jeep Grand Cherokees are targeted.
Gregg Kunes is one of the victims in the string of car thefts. He was returning to Mitchell Airport from a trip to Florida in January to find his car was gone from where he parked it in parking structure. All that was left was broken glass.
"I came back with my bags late at night and the car was gone," Kunes recalled. "It's terrible, you feel violated and you start to question yourself. But I had the keys in my hand and knew it was gone."
According to a search warrant, Kunes left for his trip on Jan. 14 at 10 a.m. His car was last recorded in the structure by Interflight Parking, a parking service used at the airport, at 12:40 a.m. on Jan. 15. Kunes returned from his trip on Jan. 16.
"That day when I talked to security, they said they had lost another white Dodge Ram the night before," Kunes said.
Court documents show the thieves are using technology to steal the cars, then re-titling and applying fake VINs before reselling them.
Kunes said all of the targeted vehicles are Chrysler high performance vehicles. It's something he knows a lot about as owner of Kunes Automotive Group.
Kunes shared his thoughts, given his professional background, on why these cars are being targeted.
"I think it is because of the high performance engines," he said. "They're easy to sell, people want them."
These cars aren't just being stolen from the airport parking structure. Kunes said those and similar cars have been stolen from his dealerships in Wisconsin and Illinois.
"There is something that they can buy pretty inexpensively," he said. "They're able to bypass the ignition, hit the button, and take off."
Kunes said as of this interview, his car stolen from the airport has not been found.
TMJ4 has asked the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office repeatedly for an interview about stolen cars from the airport, but no one has been made available yet.
