Luxury SUVs stolen from Waukesha dealership: surveillance video
WAUKESHA, Wis. - Waukesha police released surveillance video of a group of people breaking into a Land Rover dealership and stealing multiple luxury SUVs on the morning of Sunday, Feb. 18.
The video shows a handful of people – all wearing black – running through the Land Rover dealership – presumably looking for keys to vehicles. The second video shows one of the Land Rover SUVs being used to ram through a garage door – to get out of the dealership. The third video shows at multiple high-end SUVs leaving the dealership lot.
The theft of these SUVs led to a multi-county police chase on Sunday morning.
Land Rover SUVs stolen from Waukesha dealership
One of those arrested and already charged in connection with this case is Calvin Valentine, who is 17. According to the criminal complaint against Valentine, Waukesha police were dispatched to a car dealership on Moreland Boulevard on Sunday morning, Feb. 18. The operators of the dealership reported multiple vehicles had been stolen.
When officers arrived at the dealership, they spotted "broken glass strewn about the parking lot, a garage door that was a quarter of the way open and another garage door that was completely destroyed as if a vehicle had been driven through it," the complaint says.
The general manager of the car dealership shared surveillance video of what happened. That video showed around 6 a.m. Sunday, a silver "minivan pulled up to the garage door on the east side of the building. Approximately nine people, all wearing gloves and masks, unloaded from the vehicle and pushed open the garage door," the complaint says. The offenders made their way into the dealership, pried the key lock box open, grabbed keys and "then went about finding the vehicles associated with the keys throughout the dealership," the complaint says.
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The complaint says the offenders took possession of a Land Rover Velar and "used this car as a battering ram and drove it through the garage door, causing substantial damage to the vehicle and the door." The offenders took possession of a second Land Rover and drove it through the same door. The first vehicle was left behind -- and the second vehicle was taken. The complaint says that second vehicle was recovered in Chicago at 8:30 a.m. that same morning.
Dozens of police vehicles chased the vehicle down I-94
In total, officials indicated there were nine vehicles that were taken without consent from the Land Rover dealership. Those vehicles include:
- 2021 Land Rover-Range Rover Westminster
- 2023 BMW X5 M50i
- 2021 Jaguar F Type R-Dynamic
- 2023 Range Rover Sport P440
- 2019 Porsche Macan
- 2024 Range Rover Velar (2)
- 2024 Land Rover Discovery Dynamic
- 2020 Land Rover-Range Rover
Officials said the total value of these vehicles was $583,339.
"You have to be unbelieveably vigilant when business closes, that you account for all keys and make sure they are all in a secure lock box," said Jim Tolkan, president of the Auto Dealers Association of Mega Milwaukee (ADAMM). "I spoke to the dealership that was broken into, and they literally did everything that was feasibly possible."
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On Monday, Feb. 19, a detective was alerted that one of the suspects in the vehicle thefts was taken into custody in West Allis. That person was identified as defendant Calvin Valentine. The complaint says Valentine was taken into custody after a police chase and crash involving a 2021 Land Rover-Range Rover Westminster. It was a vehicle valued at $73,998.
One of the vehicles crashed on I-94 just before WIS165
"Having on-site security after closing, whether it be every night, make sure all the keys are locked in lock boxes," Tolkan said. "[The] cost involved is significantly less than what’s going to happen if you have seven, four, five, 10 vehicles stolen."
Authorities say they are still on the search for eight other suspects and three stolen cars.
In an interview, the complaint says Valentine told police on Sunday morning, he was picked up in the Chicago area. "The defendant stated that his friend gave him a key and he got in the white SUV that he crashed during the pursuit with West Allis. The defendant stated he was just 'doing kid's stuff,'" the complaint says. Valentine stated "he did not know what people would do with these cars. The defendant stated he did not know where he was going when he was driving. He claimed to have never stolen a car before," the complaint says. Valentine then stated, "I'm not gonna lie, I stole the car."
The defendant said he took the key off the rack inside the car dealership, but that "he only took one key," the complaint says.