LOWELL, MASS. (WHDH) – A man was arrested after he was accused of breaking into two car dealerships on the same Lowell street and stealing three cars in less than one day, according to officials.
According to Lowell police, Juan Mejias, 26, allegedly pushed an air conditioning unit through the window of Top Cars Auto Group on Middlesex Street around 3:30 a.m. Thursday before he rummaged through the office and left with the key to a Dodge Charger.
Hours later, police said surveillance video captured Mejias walking through the sales office at Prime Motors after he was seen kicking down the door. He was then captured driving off in two cars from the dealership’s parking lot.
“He broke open our back door he kicked it in,” said Maria Munhoz, who works at Prime Motors. “He picked out a Civic, drove it around a little bit, I don’t think he liked it. He came back and chose a RAV4.”
The brazen break-ins sounded off alarms at both dealerships.
“We have alarms, we have cameras, we thought we were prepared but then we got the alarm and we saw him quickly coming in and coming out. It was pure panic,” said Munhoz.
All three cars were missing for hours, but police eventually found them in Lowell.
“It was around 3:30 [a.m.] They located him downtown and he was sleeping in the car, but in the few hours he had the car, he wrecked the car,” said Munhoz. “It was dirty, smelly — he smoked in the car which really makes it hard for us to sell.”
Police quickly arrested Mejias.
Munhoz said she is grateful the Charger was not in worse shape when police found it.
“I honestly thought he was going to crash into something. We never know what they are on, what the state of mind is, but we are thankful that didn’t happen. But it was in a pretty horrible state when we picked it up,” she said. “It puts us in a fearful place.”
Prime Motors has since revamped its security system. The company said keys to other cars were also taken, and they are waiting for police to return them.
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