A brazen thief turned a local contractor's world upside down this week.
On Tuesday morning, Homewood Avenue resident Jorden Lenssen woke up to an alert on his phone that said his credit card had been flagged for potential fraud.
When Lenssen went out to check to see if his credit card had been stolen from his truck, he realized his 2016 GMC Sierra 2500 HD was not in its usual spot in his driveway.
“I called 911 right out of the gate,” he said. “My brother made a Facebook post to see if anyone saw anything, and he got a reply from a plow truck driver who was confident that he saw my truck outside of Gibson’s Building Supplies out by the 14th line.”
A Homewood Avenue neighbour had camera footage that confirmed the theft took place at 2:24 a.m. Surveillance footage from Gibson’s Building Supplies confirmed that Lenssen’s truck had been there.
Lenssen says the thief has been located and was arrested by Orillia OPP yesterday near Rama Road. However, he refuses to give up the location of the truck.
“They were pressuring him for more information, but they believe there are more people who are involved," Lenssen explained.
Lenssen’s insurance company will send out an adjuster after five to seven days to replace his vehicle. Unfortunately, what Lenssen receives from his insurance company will only be a fraction of what the truck was worth to him.
“I never intended on selling it. I intended on putting it in the fleet with the other vehicles for my business,” the contractor said. “I was going to buy another truck for myself this year, and now I have to buy two trucks.”
Losing his truck has created a “world of hurt,” Lenssen laments. He also lost his wallet, personal keepsakes, $1,000 worth of business equipment, and keys for his shop.
Lenssen encourages people to not get complacent with thinking a similar situation couldn’t happen to them.
“I live in a safe neighbourhood and I have a streetlight at the end of my driveway, but it didn’t matter,” he said. “Never leave your wallet or anything of value in your vehicle for the off chance that someone could walk into your driveway and steal your vehicle.”
OPP Central Region tweeted out yesterday morning that they are also investigating the theft of a 2022 Toyota Rav4.
Orillia OPP Acting Sergeant Martin Hill says that incident took place around 7 a.m. Thursday morning on Colborne Street when keys were left in the vehicle.
“Sometimes it’s an organized crime situation; we see that mostly in the bigger cities where they have rings,” he said. “A lot of times what I’m seeing in Orillia is crimes of opportunity.”
Hill says vehicle theft can happen when people leave their cars idling to simply run into their favourite local restaurant to pick up an order.
“People leave it running to keep the temperature consistent,” he said. “Somebody will be watching, they get into the vehicle, and they leave."
There are thieves skilled enough to steal a vehicle without a key, which is what happened to Lenssen. Hill says a lot of the time thieves will use high-tech devices to steal vehicle signals and then break in.
“When you are going into a store or an establishment, turn your vehicle off and take your keys with you,” Hill said. “If you are parking your vehicle at home lock your vehicle and keep your keys away from the front door.”
If anyone has any information about either theft, Hill asks that they call police at 1-888-310-1112 or contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
