Kias in North Salt Lake now the target of vehicle break-ins, thefts

NORTH SALT LAKE – Another Utah neighborhood is being targeted for vehicle thefts. This time, police said the suspect, or suspects, are often leaving the cars in driveways damaged.

In a Facebook post Tuesday, police asked drivers to park in their garage or keep cameras pointed toward their vehicles due to a recent uptick in vehicle burglaries.

"In the past couple of weeks, we've seen a significant uptick in vehicle burglaries, or they're actually probably more like attempted vehicle thefts, of Kia vehicles," said North Salt Lake Deputy Police Chief Mitch Gwilliam.

Gwilliam said the string of attempted break-ins is located in the Foxboro neighborhood.

He said about 10 vehicles were broken into, windows were smashed and ignitions damaged.

One vehicle was stolen but found a short time later.

"The vehicle was taken, we believe, early in the morning and then found a few streets over later that morning," Gwilliam said.

He said there are no reports of any items taken from inside the cars, which leads police to believe the suspect or suspects only want the vehicle.

"We believe that we have some video, but we don't have anything that's concrete evidence," Gwilliam said.

He said it's similar to previous thefts of Kias or Hyundais. It may be linked to a previous TikTok challenge that takes aim at models without auto theft prevention technology.

"Anything is frustrating when an individual can look online and there be some sort of information, whether true or not, that you can break into a vehicle and do certain things with a gimmick device that would allow you to steal that vehicle," Gwilliam said.

Police said if your vehicle is stolen or broken into, call the nonemergency dispatch number at 801-298-6000.

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