$6,000 Reward in Rockwall Wheel Thefts

Rockwall police said they have received no tips in catching the people who stole 140 20-inch tires and wheels from a North Texas dealership over the weekend.

Someone disabled the lights at Heritage Buick GMC overnight Saturday and then stole the tires and wheels off 35 Yukons and pickup trucks, leaving the vehicles up on blocks.

"Hopefully, some of the merchandise will start to show up or we'll get a Crime Stoppers tip where they are at," Rockwall police detective Randy Puckett said.

NBC 5 did some searching and found cases of wheels stolen from car dealers in Mineral Wells, Brownwood and Eastland.

Rockwall police said they were aware of other cases and would be following up and comparing notes with police departments investigating those cases.

"I think they are probably connected, and I would assume that the same people that are hitting other metro areas are hitting us," Puckett said.

About six weeks ago, thieves stole the wheels off two trucks on a Powell Chevrolet lot in Mineral Wells.

On July 3, five Chevrolet Tahoes were found wheel-less at Bruner Auto Group in Brownwood.

That same night, Eastland's Fullen Motor Co. reported nine of its vehicles -- Tahoes and half-ton pickup trucks -- had been stripped of their wheels and left on cinderblocks.

Rockwall is 30 minutes northeast of Dallas, while Brownwood and Eastland are more than two and a half hours southwest of Dallas.

NBC 5's search also turned up several similar thefts in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Louisiana, Maryland and New Jersey.

Just like in Rockwall, thieves in Stonewall, La., cut the lights at the dealership before stealing the wheels from 23 Ford F-150s. In that case, the vehicles were also left sitting on precut wooden blocks, KSLA-TV reported in April.

Rockwall Crime Stoppers is offering a $3,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the Heritage Buick GMC case. The owner also said he would match the reward.

Anyone with information is asked to call Rockwall police.

NBC DFW's Ellen Goldberg contributed to this report.

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