A thief stole a Long Beach man’s BMW 4 Series, but the victim’s forward thinking allowed him to track down and reclaim his car. The thief stole Philip Obando’s BMW key out of his wife’s Honda, which made taking his 4 Series a breeze. Once Obando realized his car was stolen, he called the police and tracked the AirTag he left hidden in his car. He was able to see that his car wasn’t far from his house, and he and his wife drove to see if they could find the car, from NBC Los Angeles:
Obando and his wife tracked the car until the Airtag froze, but it picked up again in the afternoon when they spotted it by a gas station.
“My wife says ‘There is the car! The person is gassing it up.’ She said ‘Get out of the car and go get it and I jumped out of the car,” Obando said.
Obando confronted the man as his wife blocked in the car at the gas pump.
“I had an extra fob, click it, car beeped and that’s when the guy said ‘Oh, oh man…’ and he just fled,” he said.
The thief left his wallet in Obando’s BMW, along with some drug paraphernalia. Obando reviewed his dash cam footage and was able to follow the thief’s every move, even recording the thief bragging about wanting to go back and steal Obando’s wife’s Honda. The dash cam recorded the thief swapping the license plates on the stolen BMW, and even taking it through a self-serve car wash before taking it to the gas station where Obando intercepted his car. From the wallet, Obando learned the thief was a neighbor.
Fortunately the suspect fled the scene without fighting back, but it isn’t recommended to take matters into your own hands since you never know if someone’s armed or unhinged. The Long Beach Police Department also advised against confronting a suspected thief out of safety concerns, but in this case, Obando’s boldness paid off.
As a native Long Beach resident, as with all cities, I was always taught to remove all valuables from your car when you park or at least hide them from view. As a reminder to folks who think it would never happen to them; remove valuable items from your car, or hide them from view. Even visible loose change could be enough of a reason for someone to break into your vehicle. If you suspect that your car was stolen, even if you have an AirTag that you’re tracking, please stay safe and let law enforcement professionals handle your cars retrieval.