SOMEONE STRIPPED THE TRUCK.

will cost the family about $4,000 to replace everything.

The Victim: Liz Smith

The Crime: Auto accessory theft

Date: Friday, May 13

Time: Between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m.

Location: 8100 block of Forest Hills

Liz Smith’s daughter loves horses. Before going to barrel racing competitions, she loads her horses into a trailer and hauls them with her 2009 Chevy Silverado pickup truck. Then she saddles up and charges around the barrels at a blistering pace.

Hauling her prized horses was made a little more difficult recently, however, when a criminal targeted their Forest Hills home.

“We didn’t hear a thing,” Smith says of that evening.

During the night, someone removed all four wheels and rims as well as the tailgate from the truck. The frustrating crime

Smith says her family has lived in the area for more than 20 years and has experienced hardly any crime save for one stolen bike.

Dallas Police Sgt. Keitric Jones of the Northeast Patrol Division says these types of crimes still occur regularly in East Dallas. He says a good way to prevent wheel thefts is to buy locking lugnuts.

“If you have a new vehicle, most tailgates have a lock, and the citizens just need to make sure they lock them,” Jones says. “As for older-model trucks, there is really no good way to secure your tailgate. You may search the Internet to see if there are aftermarket devices that secure your tailgate.”

The suspects work very fast and can take property in a short amount of time, Jones adds. Since there are no witnesses to most of these offenses, it is difficult to catch a suspect.

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• 26 years in the White Rock Lake Neighborhood 6301 Gaston Avenue, Suite 800 214-821-0829

Jack F. Lewis Jr., CPA