WEST ALLIS, Wis. — A Chicago teen has been charged with four felonies in connection with a luxury car theft ring that stole nine vehicles from a Land Rover Dealership in Waukesha and ended with a crash in Kenosha County.
Calvin Valentine, 17, was charged on Wednesday, Feb. 21., with burglary of a building or dwelling, operating a motor vehicle without the owner's consent, receiving stolen property of more than $10,000, and as a party to criminal damage to property over $2,500, according to a criminal complaint.
Police took Valentine into custody when he crashed into an uninvolved vehicle on I-94 near Pleasant Prairie. No injuries were reported as a result of the crash.
According to police, Valentine is just one of nine suspects involved in the car theft ring.
According to the complaint, at around 6:00 a.m., on Feb. 18., a silver Chrysler mini-van pulled up to the garage door on the east side of the dealership.
Nine individuals, wearing gloves and masks, were able to gain entry through a service garage door. All nine individuals got into vehicles at the dealership and left the stolen vehicle they arrived in.
According to West Allis Police, at around 6:30 a.m., the West Allis dispatch center received a call regarding several luxury-style vehicles in the lot of a business located in the area of S. 108th St. and Theo Trecker.
A few hours later, Waukesha Police officers were dispatched to a car dealership around 9:10 a.m, after the dealership had called and reported that multiple vehicles had been stolen.
"Young kids with masks on all filling up luxury vehicles at 6:30 in the morning," Waukesha Police Captain Dan Baumann said. "That's odd."
Officers told us they found the vehicles, which then fled at high speeds south on I-894, and onto southbound I-94.
Police radio traffic described the chase, as officers keyed in on one SUV that had one of its rear tires stripped by police stop sticks.
"He's on the rim but he's still traveling at 100 [mph]," officers relayed.
Radio traffic from officers involved say the driver topped out at about 115 miles per hour, all while missing a tire from the back left of the vehicle.
The chase lasted about a half hour, with eight of the vehicles initially escaping capture, except for Valentine.
The Illinois State Police found an additional fleeing vehicle abandoned at a business in Deerfield, Illinois. As of Monday evening, Waukesha Police say six of the nine stolen vehicles were recovered.
Waukesha Police say this appears to be a highly organized effort done by young individuals.
"There are a group of known individuals that are stealing vehicles from dealerships and just in general," Baumann said. "They take them back to certain areas and they do a number of various things with these cars. I'm highly confident that they know who came up here to commit those crimes."
Baumann suggests the collaboration between law enforcement agencies, which lead to the apprehension of this teen, will lead to the arrest of the others involved.
"We'll get these eight guys," Baumann said. "I'm pretty confident that we will. We know the name of one and there are links and analysis that we'll be able to provide to our law enforcement partners out there. We'll leverage our technology to bring these people into custody."
The West Allis Police Department was assisted by the Greenfield Police Department, the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office, the Racine County Sheriff's Office, the Kenosha County Sheriff's Department, Illinois State Police and the Wisconsin State Patrol.
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