MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - Thieves in the night, grabbing tires and rims about as fast as a NASCAR pit crew. It is crime on the rise, just ask East Memphis resident Shawn Fort.
"I was ready to get in it, go to work, and I just stopped right here, and was stunned for a good 5 minutes," Fort said.
Fort said he didn't know what to think, as he stared at his Infiniti resting on two cinder-blocks. He said he called his apartment manager, then police.
"These guys must have been like NASCAR dudes because they didn't even touch the car," said Fort.
Fort's tires and rims, all four, were stolen.
"Unfortunately for me, my job requires a lot of driving," said Fort.
The whole situation has left him feeling violated.
"You feel kind of creepy. Somebody has invaded my privacy by taking my tires and rims," he said.
"It is a problem," said Lt. James Grigsby with the Memphis Police Department.
"They'll steal them, they'll put them on Craigslist, they'll take them to the local shops for them to be resold," Grigsby said.
A Cordova apartment complex was hit in April, the thieves there also leaving the cars on cinder-blocks.
Grigsby says not only is there a market for them, tools make it easy for thieves to strike fast.
"The way tools are now with the batteries and the portable air compressors, they can roll up, get and go." Grigsby said.
Grigsby recommends buying locking lugnuts and writing down any serial number off your rims.
To replace Fort's tires and rims will cost around $2,000, he estimated.
"These guys should apply for jobs at NASCAR instead of, you know, making people's lives inconvenient," Fort said.
