Police Crack Tri-County Auto Theft Ring

Mentor Police helped crack an auto theft ring that was stealing vehicles from Lake, Summit and Cuyahoga counties, police said.

The ring seemed to specialize in seasonal equipment, Mentor Police Lt. Tom Powers said.

"It looks like this these are the same guys who were taking snow plows and four-by-fours in the winter. In the summer time, they took motorcycles, trailers and landscaping equipment," Powers said.

Police departments from Mentor, Solon, Twinsburg, Willoughby, Wickliffe and Bedford, as well as the Ohio State Highway Patrol and Cleveland FBI office have been tracking suspects in the ring for the last two weeks, Powers said.

On Thursday morning, police tracked two suspected members of the auto theft ring -- Curtis Wilder and John Jones -- to the Diamond Center area of Mentor, Powers said.

The suspects drove their own SUV out there, a Chevrolet Tahoe, and parked next to a Ford F-250, Powers said. When the owner of the truck walked away, the suspects removed its ignition cap and hotwired it, Powers said.

Police arrested Wilder and Jones as they began to drive away -- one in the Tahoe and one in the truck, Powers said.

Jones, 41, of Cleveland, was charged with wrongful entrustment and theft of a motor vehicle. Wilder, 42, of Bedford Heights, faces those charges, as well, along with driving without a license and heroin abuse.

Because police had been tracking the suspects, they knew they were taking stolen cars to a location in Warrensville, Powers said. Police raided the location Friday and it turned out to be the ring's chop shop -- the place where they go to strip stolen vehicles of their parts so they can be sold.

While nobody else was arrested Friday, the investigation is ongoing and more arrests are likely, Powers said.

Wilder and Jones were both arraigned Friday morning in . Acting Judge Richard Morrison set Wilder's bond at $160,000 and Jones's at $110,000. Neither suspect posted their bond.

Their next court appearance is scheduled for March 15.