St. Charles County cracks down on car thefts

By ALEXIS ZOTOS

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    ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Missouri (KMOV) — In the early hours of Monday, a parade of cars rolled down Heathermoor in Dardenne Prairie area of St. Charles County. Several people jumped out of the cars and started checking door handles. The cars they were driving had been stolen earlier in the night from the area according to police.

“They’re in there for one purpose, find unlocked cars, see what they can steal and they always make an attempt to see if the car starts,’ said Chief Kurt Frisz with St. Charles County Police.

It’s a problem the police department and their Auto Task Force has been working to combat for more than a year now.

“It is not the first time. It keeps happening and happening in our area, nothing seems to be getting done to resolve these sorts of things,” said Alan Maraman, who lives on Heathermoor. His car wasn’t hit, but his neighbors were.

But Chief Frisz says progress is being made. They arrested 41 people in the last month. Darryl Muldrow, 18, of St. Charles was charged last week with breaking into cars, stealing cars and firearms after police say he and others broke into 40 cars on the Amazon parking lot in St. Peters.

Police say in that case, the windows were broken but in the majority of cases, thieves are targeting unlocked doors, which is why they continue to ask residents to help fight crime with the simple task of locking car doors and garage doors at night.

“We have video that shows if the door is locked, they leave. So it helps, “ said Chief Frisz.

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