Hideouts on Wheels : 2 Teens Arrested in Theft of Motor Homes, Trucks

Two Santee teen-agers spent the last few months on what they probably thought was the joy ride of a lifetime, but the fun ended abruptly one morning when they awoke to find themselves staring down the muzzles of guns wielded by Sheriff’s Department deputies.

According to Sheriff’s Department Detective Neil Willoughby, the youths, aged 16 and 17, are under investigation for the theft of at least 25 motor homes and pickup trucks with camper shells stolen from various East County communities since the first of the year.

Both were fugitives who apparently used the vehicles as hide-outs, according to Tom Bulow, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman in the Santee substation. One had escaped from a county mental health facility; the other was wanted in connection with a series of burglaries and auto thefts.

Since their arrests in a motor home parked in downtown San Diego earlier this month, the youths have been held in juvenile hall, each having been charged with stealing four of the vehicles. Willoughby said Wednesday his investigation is continuing, and that the teen-agers could eventually be implicated in at least 25 auto thefts.

The estimated total value of the vehicles involved exceeds $500,000 (one motor home was valued at $85,000; another about $40,000), and Willoughby said as many as four additional juveniles might be involved in the crimes. All but one of the vehicles, an 18-foot Dodge Mobile Traveler, have been recovered. Most did not suffer significant damage.

“These guys are down and dirty--pure professionals,” Willoughby said of the youths in custody. “We could tell by their methods, there wasn’t broken glass found in any of the recovered vehicles. Some of the motor homes were unlocked; in other cases, they entered through the doors of the campers and then hot-wired them.”

Willoughby said the youths, “apparently had been having quite a time in the campers and mobile homes. They lived in them everywhere--East County, downtown San Diego, Imperial County, the desert, you name it. They went camping in them.”

Most of the expensive motor homes were taken from recreational vehicle storage lots in East County, Willoughby said. “They really aren’t tough for a kid to steal if he knows what he’s doing,” he said. “We suggest people take some kind of theft prevention precautions, particularly if their vehicles aren’t kept at their own homes. I’d take the battery and coil out anytime the vehicle isn’t in use.”

Bulow said it was not unusual to find such a juvenile crime wave in Santee. “I’d estimate that 75% of our crime here is committed by juveniles,” he said.

“The city (incorporated in 1980) is at a stage where many of the families here have teen-agers--we have an especially high population of people that age,” he said.

“I don’t know if this is a factor, but there’s nothing much for them to do here--very few commercial areas. I don’t think that’s an excuse for criminal activity, but it would seem to be a factor in our problem.”

The Sheriff’s Department has instigated curfew sweeps in an attempt to curb juvenile crime, Bulow said, questioning youths under the age of 18 who are on the streets after 10 p.m. “But that can’t do it all,” he said. “We’ve got to have a lot more help from the community if we are to turn this around.”