Andrea Lynn said she was stunned when a toll notice showed multiple charges for a vehicle she hadn’t driven in weeks.
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — Law enforcement agencies across the Houston area said they’re seeing a rise in license plate thefts, including thieves targeting parked vehicles.
With Texas recently phasing out temporary paper tags, some authorities expect these kinds of thefts to increase even more.
For one North Harris County mom, it all started with an unexpected bill in the mail.
Andrea Lynn said she was stunned when a toll notice showed multiple charges for a vehicle she hadn’t driven in weeks.
“There’s the back of the car with my plate,” Lynn said, pointing to a snapped photo showing a vehicle that doesn’t belong to her on the bill.
The charges? Just under $18 for 11 trips across Montgomery County over three days in late June.
Thinking it was a mistake, Lynn called the Montgomery County Toll Road Authority. That’s when she learned her license plate may have been stolen. She walked outside and found a different plate attached to her van.
“I come back to look here if there was a plate, and it was a completely different number,” she said. “I told the woman, ‘I have two different license plates on my van.’”
The plate that was missing belonged to an older, specialized van Lynn used to transport her son, who has cerebral palsy. She hadn’t used the van in weeks; it had been parked in her driveway.
She called the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office, which confirmed the swapped plate left behind was also stolen from someone in the Gulfton area.
She said she feels violated following the brazen act.
“It’s annoying that you can’t even keep your vehicles on the property,” Lynn said.
Her home security cameras weren’t working at the time. She now plans to install new ones and move the van into her garage.
She’s now sharing her story, hoping it serves as a warning.
“For all the other people who might go through this, first they were taking off the paper plates, now they’re taking off our actual license plates,” she said.
Capt. Aaron Strain with Precinct 4 said Lynn’s case is part of a growing trend.
“It doesn’t surprise me at all,” he said. “We are seeing kind of an uptick on stolen license plates.”
Strain said his agency expects these thefts to continue climbing now that the state has eliminated temporary paper tags in favor of permanent metal plates.
“We do expect even higher increases in the crime,” he said.
But he said there are simple solutions that will help you protect your plates, including using tamper-proof screws that require a special tool to remove.
“These criminals often carry standard tools,” Strain said. “If they don’t have the right tool to remove the plate, they’ll likely move on to another car.”
Other tips include:
- Parking in well-lit areas
- Installing working security cameras, especially with motion detection
- Memorizing your plate number and checking it regularly