Out of all the vehicles that are scattered on the streets, one man went for the dramatic choice with a wrapped-in-pink 2022 Kia Sportage to steal for his criminal adventures. The commercial vehicle was used for a personal trip to the church and the suspect decided to smoke a few cigarettes along the way leaving the vehicle reeking of the tobacco smell.
Josh Rath of Mix 97.1, a staff member from Townsquare Media, shared a photo that his friend sent him via Snapchat, of the company vehicle about 20 miles away from the office.
Initially, Rath didn’t find anything suspicious as it could be one of the other staff members. However, he soon realized if it was one of the crew members, they probably wouldn’t be honking like a mad person on holy grounds.
“Honestly, I was somewhat surprised but not shocked to see it off somewhere (assuming one of our fantastic account executives had it). Though, he mentioned it was honking at him and was just acting… strange,” Rath said.
A stranger’s call cleared all doubts as Rath added: “It wasn’t until the station got a call from a woman at a church in Ballantine (about 25 minutes away from Billings), saying there was a strange-looking man walking around the car and kicking the tires. She said she already had called the police.”
The police did catch the suspect but they had bigger problems so they released him since the jail in Billings is too full. He’s free to steal more vehicles at his discretion.
So how did the thief gets his hands on the company vehicle keys? Rath explained: “One particular elevator, that night, the locking mechanism for the 23rd floor just wasn’t working. So he was able to get all the way to the 23rd floor. From there, the suspect happened to have a screwdriver on him that was just the right size to pop the lock on the backdoor to the office space.”
Source: https://www.ktvq.com/news/local-news/first-look-break-in-at-townsquare-media-leads-to-crazy-theft