Central Valley a hotbed of car thefts, report says

Print this Article   Email this Article  

Text Size:  A | A | A

California's Central Valley - from Sacramento to Bakersfield - remains a corridor plagued by auto thieves. The top five cities in the nation on the latest list of car-theft hot spots include No. 2 Modesto, No. 3. Bakersfield, No. 4 Stockton and No. 5 Fresno.

Laredo, Texas, is No. 1, according to 2009 statistics released Monday by the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Overall, vehicle thefts in the United States fell 18 percent last year, the sixth year in a row to show declines.

Stockton's auto-theft rate in 2009 was 6.64 per 1,000 population compared with 7.42 per 1,000 a year earlier.

Also in the Top 10 were San Francisco at seventh and the Visalia-Porterville area at eighth. The Sacramento metropolitan area was 11th.

"California always nails this list," Frank Scafidi, a spokesman for the National Insurance Crime Bureau, said in written statement.

In 2008, according to the Stockton Police Department, 152 vehicles were stolen in the city because keys were left inside. The five most stolen makes that year were, in order, Honda, Chevrolet, Toyota, Ford and Nissan.