Detective Joel Hoskins and Detective Kyle Taylor of the Criminal Investigations Division for the Slidell Police Department, both of assigned to Burglary Investigations, were assigned a case in which a local dealership was a victim of an overnight theft. Matt Bowers Chevrolet reported that 31 vehicles had tires and wheels, valued at approximately $125,000, stolen from them at the dealership. The manager of the dealership discovered the theft on Saturday morning, April 27, 2019. It appeared that the thieves were no amateurs. They defeated locks, alarms and surveillance video, and went as far as manipulating the exterior lights in the parking lot so they could work in the dark of the night, completely undetected.

Upon receiving the case, Detectives Hoskins and Taylor began going through the evidence and taking calls from citizens who wanted to assist by providing information on the case. Detectives had a description of a vehicle that was on video at the scene of the crime, but did not have any immediate traceable identifiers, other than a “Viking” picture on the side of a U-Haul vehicle. Detectives received a call from East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office detectives who had previously worked a similar case. Those detectives shared information on what they found while working on their case. Through the state license plate reader program (LPR) and with the assistance of the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office, detectives were able to locate a matching vehicle with a Viking on the side of the U-Haul and a second vehicle (a red Toyota Corolla) that appeared to be a “chase vehicle”. Using this information, detectives took the time to trace both vehicles along I-10 to Houston, Texas. The detectives then built a timeline on the vehicles, tracking them, through the LPR system, from Houston to Slidell, and then back to Houston, all within 24 hours. Taking the license plate information from the vehicles, detectives traced both vehicles to rental stores in the Houston area. The detectives contacted both rental stores for the vehicles and matched the mileage before and after rentals to the path taken along I-10/I-12 from Houston to Slidell and back to Houston. During the investigation with the rental car stores, detectives were able to obtain name information on the 2 female renters of the vehicles, in addition to information from a service call on one of the vehicles at a Home Depot in the Houston area. Detectives contacted the Home Depot where the vehicle was serviced and spoke to the loss prevention personnel, who were able to provide video of two men who not only were in control of the U-Haul, but also purchased landscaping timbers that matched landscaping timbers left on the scene of the Matt Bowers theft.

Detectives began to trace the 2 women who had rented the U-Haul and the “chase vehicle” Hertz rental, both of whom are from the Houston area. As this was being researched, Detective Taylor began to trace a floor jack that was left on the scene of the theft at Matt Bowers Chevrolet. Detective Taylor was able to match the brand of jack to the exact make and model sold at Harbor Freight Tools. Detective Taylor then went to the Harbor Freight Tools store in Slidell and was able to locate a jack, on the sales floor, with a serial number that was only one digit off from the serial number of the jack left on the scene of the dealership theft. The store was not able to provide any video or sales transactions, but, statistically, the odds were in favor of that jack being purchased at the Slidell store. Detectives Hoskins and Taylor traveled to Houston and met with Houston Police Department Auto Theft/Gang Task Force members to assist them with this case. While working with the Houston PD Task Force, researching social media and following up on “call-ins”, the detectives were able to connect 2 suspects to two males that matched the two males in the Home Depot video. These males, subsequently surfaced as suspects of the crime. After conducting physical surveillance, reviewing Houston Police data base research, cell phone data dumps, social media research, anonymous calls, and store video pulls, arrest warrants were submitted for the arrest of the suspects. Before the detectives left Houston, the Houston Police Department assisted with the arrest of one of the suspects. Recently, with the help of the U.S. Marshall’s Service, another suspect was placed under arrest. Warrants are still active for the two females. Detectives Hoskins and Taylor are still following leads for others possibly involved in the case.

During the preliminary stages of the investigation, the detectives identified at least two similar thefts in Texas and Oklahoma. As the result of this investigation, detectives from San Antonio, began looking into similar thefts in that area. They were able to link these suspects to those thefts, and arrest warrants were issued.

Congratulations to Detectives Joel Hoskins and Kyle Taylor of the Slidell PD for their
outstanding work and for winner the IAATI Award of Merit.