Claudia Owens depended on her Ford-150 Raptor to help her move beginning this weekend. But she will have to wait a few weeks until the truck is back from the shop.
SAN ANTONIO — A San Antonio woman says she’s frustrated and confused after discovering thieves targeted her truck overnight—stealing only the taillights and leaving everything else untouched.
The theft happened within the Stone Ridge neighborhood off Wetmore and Wurzbach between 10 p.m. Tuesday and 5 a.m. Wednesday.
Claudia Owens said she realized something was wrong when she opened her garage door Wednesday morning and saw her 2019 Ford F-150 Raptor with the tail gate down.
“I made a couple calls and said I wasn’t going to be into work this morning,” Owens said. “I thought that was kind of weird because I wasn’t getting anything out of the truck.”
When she walked closer, she realized the tail lights had been completely stripped. Despite having cash, her work phone, and her purse inside the vehicle, none of those items were taken.
“The weird thing is that they didn’t take anything from the inside,” Owens said. “They only took the taillights.”
Owens says the damage will cost her about $3,500 to repair, although insurance will cover much of the financial damage. It’s the inconvenience factor that’s especially troubling for Owns who was preparing to move this weekend and had depended on her truck to help.
“Very frustrating with my truck getting hit last year,” Owens said. “Makes you feel kind of unsafe in the neighborhood.”
Lonnie Johnson, service manager at Ruben’s Auto Repair in San Antonio, noted cases like this are not unheard of. He said that thieves can remove taillights in just minutes, and certain models of the F-150, are especially attractive to thieves because of the expensive components that can be resold or used for their own rigs.
“It is something we do see,” Johnson said. “We don’t produce a lot (taillights and other components) in this country. We have to get everything from abroad, so it can cause a parts delay, and sometimes it’s just quicker for people to go out and take one off somebody else’s car.”
Owens said she isn’t confident police will find whoever stole the parts. For now, she’ll be getting around on her motorcycle and company car until repairs are made. She also had a message for whoever is profiting off of her taillights.
“I hope it pays for something they really need.”
San Antonio police are investigating. No suspects have been identified at this time.