Car theft with a tow truck: A 44-year-old from Krefeld has been sentenced to prison for a particularly brazen series of car thefts. The Krefeld district court found him guilty of aggravated theft on Monday and sentenced him to two years and eight months in prison. The man had previously made a confession.
The judge spoke of a “certain audacity”, the prosecutor of “calmness”: With an old tow truck, the man, who stated his profession as “car expert” on Monday, had one car after the other disappear from the roadside and from parking lots.
The cars disappeared never to be seen again: He sold them to the operator of a scrap press in Essen. At least 13 cars from Krefeld, Duisburg and Mönchengladbach ended up in the scrap press.
Two car thefts were filmed by the surveillance camera of a Krefeld car repair shop where they were supposed to be repaired. In addition, the theft of a third car was observed by a witness.
The police found out about the man because only two of his model of tow truck were still registered nationwide: one in northern Germany and one in Krefeld, where by far the most cars disappeared.
The investigators then secretly attached a GPS tracker to the tow truck and were thus able to use satellite tracking to understand that the car always drove to a recycling center in Essen after the thefts.
Based on the recycling lists kept there, it quickly became clear who had delivered the stolen cars and sold them for a total of 7,600 euros. The verdict is not yet legally binding.