At 6 a.m. in early December, an unlabeled white tow truck cruised into Jesse Roller’s Chino neighborhood. Roller had saved up for four years to buy his prized Cadillac CTS-V coupe, and in 30 seconds, it was gone.
The tow truck driver stopped in front of the car, latched on using a self-loading lift and drove away without ever leaving the truck. The theft of Roller’s car is part of a pattern in which vehicles have been snatched from driveways and neighborhood curbs across San Bernardino County, stretching back for nearly a year.
“I spent three hours calling the surrounding police stations … saying, ‘Hey, did you guys tow this vehicle?’ and they all said ‘No,’” Roller said. “That’s how I knew it wasn’t a mistaken [repossession]. My car was just gone.”…