KENT COUNTY (WWJ) - It took thieves 120 seconds to break into, reprogram and steal a very rare 2020 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye estimated at $120,000 from a West Michigan dealership early Wednesday morning.
And the car's owner, Jordan Baker -- who also runs the Caledonia-area dealership where the Hellcat was stolen from -- hopes the car's unique features can help Kent County Sheriff's deputies catch the thieves.
“It’s just a brazen theft,” Baker told WOOD8.
According to Baker, the vehicle was parked in the front corner of his lot on Broadmoor Avenue SE after showing a potential buyer the souped up sportscar on Tuesday. But by Wednesday morning, he came to work and saw shattered glass and a lone Crafty Crab Seafood wrapper on the ground where the rare Hellcat should've been.
"Let me tell you, it was a special car," Baker said in a video to his Comodo Motors Facebook page. "There were only 52 of them made in 2020. It was a 2020 Dodge Challenger Hellcat Red Eye in 'Sinamon Stick' orange."
Baker said video surveillance showed the alleged thieves pull into a Wendy's parking lot across the street around 4:16 a.m. before they headed over to the dealership, broke the window of the locked car and used an electronic device to program a new key.
They took off with the Hellcat at 4:18 a.m.
"Naturally I’m just devastated," Baker added. The dealership had the car for roughly a month and was selling it for $120,000 -- its theft is hitting the small business very hard. Baker feared they wouldn't get the car back in one piece and that it would be chopped up and sold for parts.
The 797-horsepowered engine in the Hellcat Redeye can sell for $30,000 to $40,000, Baker estimated.
The Kent County Sheriff’s Office is currently investigating the theft. Anyone with information has been asked to call the sheriff’s office at 616.632.6100 or Silent Observer at 616.774.2345.
Baker said his surveillance footage last captured the thieves heading north on Broadmoor in the car. He asked local residents and business owners to check any footage they may have.
“If you have any other cameras, up Broadmoor, we gotta find these guys,” he said in his Facebook video.