This year alone, a record-setting 1,400 cars have been stolen in Antioch. In fact, this month alone the city is averaging five cars stolen every day. However, the city’s embattled police department says it’s doing all it can to fight back.
“It’ll be two weeks this Thursday evening and I am just really upset, I’ve been crying every day, just very terrified.” That’s how Robin Gragg is feeling after she says she survived a carjacking. She says she was pumping gas at an Antioch Valero station when a man pushed her down and stole her Lexus. “He jumped in the car and took off within three seconds.”
“I’ve been with the department for right around 25 years and I’ve never seen the vehicle theft this high,” said Antioch Police Department Lt. Desmond Bittner.
Bittner says the city of Antioch has never had so many cars stolen. The number of stolen cars has nearly tripled since 2022. “Right now at 1,400 going into the month of November, that is probably the most I’ve ever seen.”
Bittner says police have recovered 163 stolen cars in Antioch just this month and he says more than half of them were stolen from other cities.
Laura von Savoye says one of those recovered vehicles was her 2019 Hyundai which was stolen from her driveway in Brentwood and recovered in Antioch, stripped and totaled.
“It’s very disturbing. I don’t even know what to think of it,” said Savoye. “Whatever they could take they did. They took the battery, they took the fuses, they stripped the trunk down to metal. No spare tire, no jack. The steering column is completely gone,” said Savoy.
“I was hoping one of them was mine, but it’s not,” said Gragg who is praying her stolen Lexus will be found. Until then her driveway remains empty and she now takes the bus to get around.
“It’s just sick what Antioch has become you guys,” said Gragg.
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Police say they are doing their best to tackle the problem. They’ve arrested 113 car thieves so far this year, but they are urging drivers to take precautions.
