17 Vehicles Stolen In 6 Days Across Howard County

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — Seventeen vehicles were stolen across Howard County between Saturday and Thursday police report.

Thieves also broke into vehicles and stole credit cards, cash, an ID badge, four sets of tires and a purse, according to Howard County Police reports.

Six of the stolen vehicles were Hondas, including one owned by Steven Robbins. The Columbia resident and his wife noticed his brand new blue Honda Civic Sport was missing early Tuesday morning, they told WMAR.

A neighbor's security footage showed a black car driving into the neighborhood and four people wearing black masks got out. The car had parked behind Robbins vehicle with the lights off. Robbins told WMAR he believes a Flipper device was used to manipulate his car fob signals and allowed them to steal his vehicle.

“They read the car’s VIN number and got the car’s accessories; They got the ignition code, they got the remote key fob code," he said. "They had my ‘key’ in their hand."

Robbins had owned his vehicle for only 13 months before it was stolen, he told WMAR. Police recommend residents use a steering wheel club, accelerator lock or an ignition kill switch.