CLEARLAKE — Clearlake Police officers recovered a stolen vehicle Wednesday following a report of a suspicious vehicle with its doors open parked for several days on the 3500 block of Halika Street. The vehicle was stolen from Winding Roads Motors, a car dealership located on Lakeshore Drive.
Winding Roads owner Carl Colen said that his business was burglarized on Dec. 17. More than 50 sets of keys were stolen along with two vehicles, one of which was the 2002 Mitsubishi Eclipse recovered on Wednesday.
“It took me about a week to realize that a second car was stolen,” Colen said. “A large portion of those keys were computerized. I spent more than $1,000 replacing them.”
Colen said he was thrilled to get the Mitsubishi back. “I”m very pleased to have this one back. I”m not sure on the damage but the body looks straight. They did break out one of the windows, though,” he said.
Prior to releasing the vehicle to Colen, officers examined and collected evidence from the car. “I was able to pull a couple of prints off of the door,” Officer Reghan Stuller said.
Residents of homes neighboring the site where the car was found said that the car had been sitting there for a few days, during which time it had moved. However, they said they did not see anyone associated with it.
Colen is offering a reward for information leading to the recovery of the other car that was stolen. It is described as a 1998 Honda Acura 3.5 RL, sedan. Colen said the color is unusual and appears to be champagne silver/gray. The license plate number is 4A0V557.
Anyone with information regarding this incident should contact the Clearlake Police Department at 994-8201 or Winding Roads Motors at 995-2811.
Contact Denise Rockenstein at drockenstein@clearlakeobserver.com or call her directly at 994-6444, ext. 11.
