LAKELAND, Fla. (WFLA) — Deputies in Polk County are searching for a suspect who broke into a repair shop and drove away in a Porsche.
The suspect was caught on security camera entering the Cannon Automotive Group repair shop on South Florida Avenue around 9:20 Saturday night.
“He removed an air conditioning unit, climbed in and grabbed multiple sets of keys,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.
Deputies say one set of car keys was for a blue 2000 convertible Porsche Boxter.
After about an hour in the shop, investigators say the alarm was triggered when he left at 10:37 p.m. in the stolen Porsche.
“He grabs this nice car and flees,” Sheriff Grady Judd said. “You’ve got to give them credit, at least he has nice taste in cars that he steals.”
According to the sheriff, Lakeland police officers recovered the stolen Porsche in a bad section of town.
“It was abandoned in Lakeland, near a pretty rough area known for drugs,” Sheriff Judd said.
The sheriff praised the security system at Cannon Automotive and said the suspect likely knew his way around it.
“It leads me to think that he had some inside information, because when you have a security system over that large of an area, there’s always going to be a weakness someplace, and he took advantage of that weakness,” he said.
The suspect is described as a white or Hispanic man with a thin build, mustache, goatee and tattoo on his upper left arm. He was seen wearing a hat, glasses, gloves, a gray tank top, cargo shorts and white sneakers.
Anyone with information is asked to call Heartland Crime Stoppers at 1-800-226-8477.
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