INDIANAPOLIS — Surveillance cameras in a southwest side community caught a man stealing a license plate during a time when kids were going to school and adults heading to work. RTV6 has learned this just the latest crime adding to growing concerns in the area.
Watch the surveillance video in the player above.
Around 7:30 a.m. Thursday, a black car pulled up on Delphi Drive in The Colony subdivision in Heartland Crossing in Camby.
"The male gets out and walks across the street and starts unscrewing the neighbors' license plate," Robert Buras, a Camby resident, said.
The entire theft was caught on video from surveillance cameras placed on Bruas' home.
"I was shocked they were doing it in the daylight," Buras said. "A lot of people steal license plates and use them on stolen cars to commit armed robberies. AT&T store was just robbed. That something we need to be watching for."
"Those pictures are clear as day; somebody has to know who they are," Erin Kidwell, a Camby resident in the Heartland Crossing are for two years, said. "It's really been a lot worse this summer."
Kidwell is concerned not only about the latest theft, but crime in general in the area.
"It's more and more every day. It's slowly gone from the back of the edition, and all the neighborhoods, and it's creeped way up here," Kidwell said. "Our neighborhood is an easy target and go out of three different exits. In three different counties."
Within just the last week and a half, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department records show at least 17 license plates have been stolen. One of the most recent cases was all caught on camera.
IMPD has responded to more than 20 calls for license plate thefts in the Metro area in just the last week.
"I've captured some other video of people walking the neighborhood, checking cars," Buras said. "I feel good because I have security cameras and my cars are in the garage. I feel a lot better than maybe some of my neighbors."
The hope is that the cameras will help solve the latest crime and someone who recognizes the man in the video above will report it to the police.
License plate thefts are more common than people think.
If you recognize the suspect in the video, contact Crime Stoppers at 317-262-TIPS.
