According to a Watauga County
Crimestoppers report, sometime between Nov. 6-11, unknown
person[s] allegedly removed 19 license plates from cars in
Greenwood, Appalachian Heights, South and State Farm parking
lots.
Appalachian State University owns all of those parking lots;
three are on campus.
Of these 19 plates, only two or three of them are North Carolina
license plates.
“One person called and reported their tags stolen.
When the officers went out to the parking lot [Greenwood]
to take the report, they looked two or three cars down and
saw another license plate missing,” University Police
Chief Gunther E. Doerr said.
“The officers then scoured all the parking lots and
discovered more missing license plates,” Doer said.
According to the Crimestoppers report, Boone Police also
took reports about several license plate thefts in the Boone
area.
“We talked to Boone Police and we believe they have
about six reports of stolen plates,” Doerr said.
Capt. William Greene of the Boone Police Department said
that while they have taken reports, they do not know how
significant they are.
“We have taken some reports, but not that many. I don’t
know the exact numbers, but I do not think there is a significant
number of out-of-state versus in-state license plates,”
Greene said.
Doerr said no motive has been established.
“We are puzzled as to why someone would want to steal
license plates. As far as we know they have no known monetary
value,” Doerr said.
“Our best guess is that it is just a prank, but we
don't know,” Doerr said.
University Police Chief Investigator Maj. Larry Foster said
there is no known connection between the license plates.
“We do not think that these license plates have any
connection except that a majority of them are not from North
Carolina.
Although the University Police does not know who is stealing
these plates or why they are being stolen, Doerr did say
that the stolen license plates have been entered into the
National Crime Information Center.
“All the tag numbers have been reported to the NCIC,
so they can be traced from anywhere in the country,”
Doerr said.
“When an officer pulls a car over, they will typically
run a license plate check. If any of these tags are placed
on another car and that car is pulled over, the plates will
show up as stolen plates,” Doerr said.
|
