Reggie Kyle

Friday morning, Devan-Lowe Operations Manager Mark Hamilton received a phone call from his technician who came to work early. He was told an Escalade he was working on was missing, and his garage door was up.

“I was able to review some of the footage from the camera on my phone, so I did that very quickly and saw where they had taken the Escalade at somewhere around 3:30 in the morning and they also took another vehicle, 2500 HD GMC pickup,” said Hamilton.

Along with two high-dollar vehicles, Hamilton says thieves broke into the office area, kicked doors out, and took 35 sets of vehicle keys and owner’s manuals.

“Based on review of the video, it does seem like someone either did a good job of scouting it out or had some inside info because they were in and out getting the keys within eight minutes, went right to where the keys were without making a misstep, so it was a pretty efficient getting the keys,” said Hamilton.

With several dealership thefts across the state, Hamilton says this isn’t the first time they’ve been robbed, but it still feels the same.

“It definitely leaves a bad taste in your mouth, we’re trying to run a honest business here and this sort of thing will certainly affect our insurance rates moving forward as well as others,” said Hamilton.

The Rainbow City Police Department is currently investigating this theft and, despite all of this, Mark Hamilton says the dealership is awarding a car to a high school senior in Etowah County later this month.