SPOKANE, Wash. — Nine stolen cars and a hole cut in the roof.
That's what employees at Northtown Auto Sales found when they showed up for work Tuesday. The dealership's general manager says the thief rappelled into their office and made off with more than a dozen sets of keys.
Believe it or not, employees at Northtown Auto Sales say this is not the first time someone has cut a hole in their roof to get inside the building. Police were able to recover some of the stolen cars, but the dealership is still missing quite a few sets of keys.
"They had knocked through two layers basically of a vent to get into the office," General Manager Nick Arrotta said.
Arrotta said the "Mission-Impossible" style heist started just before 2 a.m. Tuesday.
"One person came in, repelled down through the roof, grabbed 15 sets of keys, repelled back up the roof and then he stole a minivan," Arrotta said. "So, it was a pretty thought out process. You know he didn't take a sports car for the first one."
Arrotta said the thief used the minivan to pick up more thieves.
"Bringing people, dropping them off, taking cars, and they are driving them off the lot," Arrotta said.
Over the course of three and a half hours, they got away with nine cars and keys for six other cars.
"We're pretty numb to petty theft, but when they show up and take nine cars and you've got a quarter million dollars worth of inventory missing, now you're like 'oh my gosh,'" Arrotta said.
Arrotta says they've dealt with criminals drilling gas tanks and breaking car windows. Less than a year ago, someone did cut through the roof, but nothing was stolen.
"The day before yesterday, somebody broke into a Toyota Corolla and took the nav screen," Arrotta said. "We didn't think they were going to come back through the roof again and do a mission impossible but they did."
Hours into their investigation Tuesday, Spokane Police arrested a man and recovered several of the stolen cars, including a BMW and a Mercedes.
Arrotta said he's making improvements to security and finding a safer way to store their rack keys, North Town Auto may also need a new guard dog.
"He is not doing his job," Arrotta joked. "He is too well fed or something."
Spokane Police have not identified the man arrested, but tell KREM 2 he's facing nine counts of vehicle theft and one count of commercial burglary. The investigation remains ongoing.
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