PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Philadelphia police are investigating after multiple vehicles were found stripped of parts and abandoned in the city’s Germantown neighborhood.
It’s raising questions about whether the discoveries are connected to a broader pattern of auto thefts targeting Hondas across the city.
Dan Zobel of Horsham said he began noticing the vehicles in a field near his workplace while walking his dog. He reported each discovery to police.
It did not take long for one vehicle’s owner to learn where it had ended up.
“Within an hour someone had messaged me,” Zobel said after posting a photo of a Honda Pilot in a social media group.
Images show cars found stripped in Philadelphia’s Germantown section in recent weeks.
Zobel said the vehicles have been appearing regularly in the same area.
“Every Monday for the past three weeks there’s been cars,” he said.
According to police, three vehicles were recovered near Logan and Stenton avenues on the day Zobel spoke with Action News, and a fourth vehicle was recovered on Oct.19.
Zobel said he found two Acuras tucked away in the trees near the Honda Pilot. On another occasion, he found another Acura parked in plain sight with no wheels or doors.
The discoveries come as police continue investigating organized vehicle theft operations in Philadelphia.
In September, Capt. Robert McKeever of the Philadelphia Police Department’s Major Crimes Unit gave Action News a look inside a newly discovered chop shop in North Philadelphia.
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Authorities recovered seven Hondas that investigators said had been targeted for their easily interchangeable parts. Two arrests were made.
Police said they believed that operation was connected to a Dominican theft ring dismantled in April, where investigators estimated $4.6 million in Honda parts had been stolen over two years.
In a separate investigation that same month, police uncovered a theft ring based in Northwest Philadelphia that primarily targeted Honda CR-Vs. Authorities said at least 50 vehicles valued at $1.6 million were stolen, and eight arrests were made.
According to Philadelphia police, more than 12,000 vehicles have been stolen citywide this year, and just over a quarter of them were Hondas.
Zobel owns a Honda himself. Although he has not been a victim of theft, he said the trend concerns him.
“I bought it like a year and a half ago, and then they all kept getting stolen in Philly. I’m like, ‘This was probably not the smartest move for me to buy a Honda,'” he said.
Detectives told Action News this is the first time they have seen vehicles dumped and stripped in this manner in Northwest Philadelphia.
Zobel hopes investigators will continue monitoring the area.
Police are investigating whether the vehicles found in Germantown are connected to any other cases. Police sources also said investigators are currently monitoring three undisclosed locations in Northeast Philadelphia for similar activity.
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