Rt. 30 Car Lot Video Grabs Clear Shot Of Thief's Face

Owner Tired Of Getting Ripped Off In Unity Township

POSTED: 4:30 pm EST November 4, 2009
UPDATED: 6:44 pm EST November 5, 2009

UNITY TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Thieves have been ripping off tires, rims and scrap metal from a car dealership on Route 30 in Westmoreland County, and the fed-up owner installed a security system to catch them in the act.

Surveillance video at Mike's Car Lot shows somebody helping himself to some scrap and an aluminum rim in the rear of the lot in Unity Township. When he turned around to leave, the camera caught a perfect shot of his face.

THURSDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: State police in Greensburg said they've received several phone calls about the man in the video and have identified him as Edward Miller, 55, of the Latrobe area. Police said he would be charged with theft.

"I set stuff out there, and there's not a 'free' sign out there. People just come and take them," owner Mike Bartow told Channel 4 Action News' Jennifer Miele. "They are there for a reason. They are spare tires for cars and that, and if somebody really needed them, I'd just give them the tires. They just feel free to come and take whatever is back there."

Bartow turned his video over to state police troopers. They don't think the same person is responsible for all of the recent thefts, but they are hopeful of being able to at least solve this one.

"In a case like this, without surveillance video, we wouldn't be able to make an arrest," Trooper Stephen Limani said. "Surveillance video is absolutely paramount when it comes to some crimes. It's absolutely paramount to have."

Police received dozens of phone calls from Channel 4 Action News viewers who pointed them toward the suspect after seeing the video on television.

"They were calling me, telling me they were fed up with theft in their community," Limani said. "I told them they could remain anonymous. Some said, 'I don't care, you can know who I am, I know who did it,' and they gave me information."

And Bartow hopes it will send a message.

"Don't take stuff from Mike's Car Lot, or you're going to get caught," he said.

Within 90 minutes of the video airing on TV, the missing rims were returned. Police believe the suspect rolled them down the hill behind the car lot, where he could stay out of the view of surveillance cameras.