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8-14-2024 11:40pm
Westwood Police Investigating Thefts Involving Kia Brand Rental Cars
Darlene Cancell
Editor
Photo "Kia Sportage EX 2022" by RL GNZLZ via Flickr.
Someone may be targeting Kia model vehicles, as Westwood Police have responded to two reports involving a stolen car and stolen tires of that brand of vehicle, both occurring on August 8th in the area of the Courtyard Marriott on University Avenue.
According to Lieutenant Christopher Sheehy, at 9:45 a.m. on August 8th, a Westwood Police officer went to the Courtyard Marriott to speak to a guest whose 2021 grey, Kia Sportage rental car had been stolen from the hotel parking lot. The guest had arrived from Calgary, Canada on the previous afternoon, and had parked his vehicle outside the nearby Brigham Women’s healthcare facility around 7:00 p.m. The vehicle was missing by the next morning.
Police returned to the Courtyard Marriott on the afternoon of August 8th when a man from Jacksonville, Florida complained that the right, front wheel on his sedan was missing. As in the first incident, the vehicle was a grey Kia and a rental car. He had parked it in the parking lot overnight, and noticed the car wheel was missing in the morning.
Three days later, Westwood Police were notified by Danvers Police Department that the stolen Kia Sportage had been recovered in Danvers on August 9th. The recovered vehicle was towed to Westwood Police Station and processed for forensic evidence.
Westwood Police continue to investigate the two as incidents that are possibly related.
