{"id":42530,"date":"2018-04-17T14:15:20","date_gmt":"2018-04-17T20:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=42530"},"modified":"2021-02-07T20:48:50","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T03:48:50","slug":"two-true-tales-from-calgarys-car-theft-epidemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2018\/04\/17\/two-true-tales-from-calgarys-car-theft-epidemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Two true tales from Calgary’s car theft epidemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

I<\/span>t is no secret Calgary is a growing city, and with that growth, comes an increase in crime, including automotive theft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

C<\/span>algary vehicle break-ins hit a record high in 2017 with nearly 1,000 car prowlings a month, according to CBC News.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past year on record, the city has seen an average of 972 vehicle break-ins per month. That\u2019s more than one break-in per hour.”<\/p>\n

Calgarians Steve Poffenroth and Sarah Baudais were both victims of the rising car theft epidemic in 2017.<\/p>\n

On May 23,\u00a0<\/sup>2017, Steve Poffenroth woke up to go to work in his 2009 Ford F-150, just like he would any other day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came out of the house to go to work at 5 a.m. only to find there was someone in my truck trying to start it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ran towards my truck before thinking or realizing what was happening,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Poffenroth remembers trying to get in to his driver’s side door to pull the thief out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI then realized that I couldn’t open the door, as he had broken the handle while breaking in.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I went around the front of the truck to get to the passenger side door, when he finally got it started.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poffenroth said the driver would\u2019ve run him over had he not jumped out of the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis thief had zero intention to stop the car before hitting me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLuckily, I got out of the way just in time and called 911 to report the incident.\u201d<\/p>\n

The police found Poffenroth\u2019s truck six weeks later, but the vehicle had been destroyed.<\/p>\n

Insurance covered the damage, but shortly after Poffenroth received his cheque from his agent, he was able to turn a bad situation to a positive and put the money towards a newer, better truck.<\/p>\n

\u201cI purchased a used 2014 Ford Raptor I had been dying to have for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarah Baudais had her first car theft experience not long after Poffenroth\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was around 7 a.m. on Aug. 28, 2017 when I realized it was gone,\u201d said Baudais, recalling the day her 1999 Honda Civic was stolen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI walked out of my house to my car to head to work, and realized it wasn\u2019t where I had parked it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baudais said she was frantically searching the area in case she had parked her car somewhere else, but after realizing it was stolen, she called the police immediately.<\/p>\n

Baudais said her car was found about three weeks later.<\/p>\n

The vehicle was found in the Marlborough Wal-Mart parking lot. It was then assessed as a write-off.<\/p>\n

“Insurance was very helpful with the entire process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had issued me a rental car for the full three weeks I was without my Civic,\u201d said Baudais.<\/p>\n

After her car was deemed as a written-off, Baudais\u2019 insurance company sent her a cheque in a mail for the value of her car.<\/p>\n

“The only downside was, as soon as I received the cheque, I had to return my rental car. It left me with very little time to search for a new car in-between.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Steve Poffenroth poses with his new 2014 Ford Raptor after experiencing his first automotive theft outside of his home in Hilhurst last summer in May 2017. (Photo by Alexa Warren\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is no secret that Calgary is a growing city and with that growth, comes an increase in crime. Automotive theft is no exception to this. [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":417,"featured_media":42535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S2 Automotive Theft","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-42530","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-image","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"post_format-post-format-image"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/417"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42530"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44489,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42530\/revisions\/44489"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}