Teens arrested in Woodland for attempting to steal car, using tactic similar to old TikTok trend

By Orko Manna

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    WOODLAND, California (KCRA) — Surveillance video captured a group of teens trying to steal a car from West Lincoln Avenue in Woodland early Tuesday morning.

Woodland police said the five teens, four boys and one girl, are all around 14 years old. Police said the teens smashed the back passenger window, ripped the ignition panel and tried to use a USB charging cable to start the car.

The surveillance footage, given to KCRA 3 by a neighbor across the street who wanted to remain anonymous, shows the lights on the car flashing at one point. It is at that point when the teens are seen running away from the vehicle.

Police said the tactic the teens used in their attempt to steal the car, by using a USB cable, was similar to a social media challenge from a couple of years ago.

“The behavior is exactly the same. We had numerous cars stolen by juveniles in that time frame, and they were looking on TikTok, social media, pulling up those videos and emulating the same behavior,” Woodland Police Department Sgt. Richard Towle said.

Towle said a neighbor witnessed the break-in and theft attempt and called 911, giving officers descriptions of the teens. When police got to the area, they found teens who matched those descriptions about one block away and arrested them.

Towle said police tackled this problem once before, so he believes they can do it again.

“We focused on the few individuals that we knew were involved in that, so some of it has subsided, but now it looks like it might be picking back up, so just working with our local DA’s office and juvenile probation, stuff like that, is kind of the key to helping resolve some of this,” Towle said.

The car owner, Patrick Navarez, said he was alerted to the theft attempt when police came to his senior living apartment complex.

“I was sound asleep, and at about 1 o’clock, Woodland PD came to knock on my door, asking for me to take off and come and inspect my car,” Navarez said. “All the doors were swung open, and the back passenger window was broken out, and they explained that somebody tried to break in and steal the car.”

Navarez said he is thankful his car was not stolen and nothing inside was stolen. He said the flashing lights in the surveillance video were a result of his car’s theft protection system.

“There’s an anti-theft system in the car, so they go to the ignition, took the ignition panel off and couldn’t hotwire it because of the antitheft system in there, so that’s all they could do. I thank God some neighbors saw it, called it in, and three patrol cars were out here, and they picked up five juvenile kids,” Navarez said.

Navarez said car break-ins and attempted car thefts are not new for his neighborhood, and it is a concern that he and his neighbors have had for a while.

“Gradually, there’s been more and more crime in this area,” Navarez said. “People, or kids, criminals trying to steal cars.”

Kathy Chavez, who lives at the same senior living apartment complex, said she agrees that it is a major issue for the community, especially for those who have to park on the street.

“It happens a lot around here, in that, because we’ve had one pickup stolen from across the street,” Chavez said. “You’re worried all night long about your car being parked here.”

Neighbors said they want police to be more proactive and patrol the area more frequently. Woodland police told KCRA 3 that is something the department is working on.

“We try and deploy resources based on crime trends, so that’s something that we will talk with patrol about, increasing patrols in that area,” Towle said.

Woodland police said the five teens arrested now face felony charges of conspiracy to commit auto theft.

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