Thieves targeting wheels in Santa Rosa are leaving stripped cars on cement blocks

SANTA ROSA, Calif. (KGO) — In recent weeks, thieves have been targeting wheels in Santa Rosa, California.

ABC7 News video showing a Toyota Camry left on concrete blocks in the Windmill Circle neighborhood of Santa Rosa got a quick response from police and the community.

Multiple people sent similar pictures of wheelless cars to ABC7 News on social media. One shot of a car sitting on blocks without wheels near Coleman Glen Lane. Another near Sebastopol Road, and another on Doubles Drive.

All of these were stolen wheel crimes reported in August in Santa Rosa.

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“I go to open the door and I see that the car is just completely put up on cement blocks, like decorative garden blocks, all four wheels, rims, everything gone,” TJ Linhart said.

Linhart is describing the wheels stolen off his 2024 Toyota Camry that was parked at The Marq Apartments in Santa Rosa in August.

“I park the furthest away from the actual street,” Linhart said. “So they went all the way to the back of our apartment complex to take care of this.”

Linhart’s car had wheels that were initially bronze TRD’s before they were stolen. In fact his car was one of at least two hit in his complex that night.

Last year, Santa Rosa police, Petaluma police, and Rohnert Park police all dealt with a rash of these cases, which are now making a comeback.

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There were also pictures of recent stolen wheel cases in Oakland and San Mateo, but most of the responses ABC7 News received on social media came from the North Bay.

While viewers did send us pictures from recent stolen wheel cases in Oakland and San Mateo; most of your responses came from the North Bay.

“We’re talking probably the rims, the screws, the works, not to mention all the body work that needs to be done on the car as well,” Linhart said. “Still gotta get the body work done on the car. We’re already about $3,000 in the hole.”

Experts recommend secure parking lots, wheel locks, turning your wheels towards the curb before you park, and alarms.

Linhart said he was so frustrated and upset over the wheel thefts that he did not report it to police. Officers urge anyone who has been victimized by wheel thieves to report the crime. They say they can go undercover or add extra patrols to catch the crooks, but they need to know what happened and what was taken.