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View Winners → Someone Stole Dr. Phil’s Car, OMG, Stop the Presses
Arcadia Weekly Sep 06, 2012
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By Terry Miller
-Courtesy Photo
Not every stolen car gets this kind of treatment for a theft, in fact very few. However, when Dr. Phil speaks, people listen, at least some do.
Former Queen of daytime television, Oprah Winfrey’s protige, Dr. Phil McGraw apparently had his beloved ‘57Chevy Bel Air ripped off – LASD and Burbank detectives are asking you for help. I kid you not.
We recently had our car stolen. There was no press release issued, just the usual report taken and Pasadena’s finest contacted other agencies such as the LASO. As far as I know, we didn’t actually have detectives on the case. There was no press release issued to the media and it ceratinly didn’t make the news at 11.
Like Dr. Phil’s our car was a classic too…albeit a little newer than his Bel Air. It was a Honda Accord… a true classic of this age and apparently very popular beacuase it is easy to steal…in fact, the Accord is the most stolen car in Los Angeles according to the understanding officer who took our report.
Quick, let’s call Joe Friday from Dragnet…we need all the help we can get for Dr. Phil (it was, after all, Friday when this press release popped into my in box).
According to the release: “Investigators with the El Monte-based Taskforce for Regional Autotheft prevention are working with Burbank officers in the investigation.
On August 26, 2012, Dr. Phil McGraw was driving his 1957 Chevy Bel Air when it broke down. The vehicle was towed to an automobile shop called “RODZ” located at 2800 N. San Fernando Rd., Burbank to be repaired.
Later that evening the shop was broken into, the car was stolen, and Burbank Police Department officers wrote the report of the burglary.
Taskforce for Regional Autotheft Prevention (TRAP) investigators are working with the Burbank Police Department on this investigation.
A $1,000 reward is being offered by RODZ automobile shop for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect in this investigation and the safe return of the vehicle.”
Now I’ve never been a fan of Dr. Phil., and, in fact, when my wife and mother-in-law watch him, I have to leave the room. I wonder (not really) what Dr. Phil would say about that?
However, I wonder if and when they catch the notorious Bel Air thief, will Dr. Phil ask him to be on the show to make ammends and offer him some help. I hope so, this would make some great reality TV. Actually I wonder too if Dr. Phil will offer a reward. Here’s one show I would watch. If he was the benevolent type, he should take a page out of Oprah’s playbook and give everyone in his TV studio audience a 1957 Bel Air…just so they can experience a real ride of a lifetime.
For the record, our classic, and becoming rare, 93 Honda Accord was found by an alert deputy from Temple Station who didn’t have the assistance of detectives, as far as I know. However it cost us nearly $300 to get it out of custody of the wrecking yard due to a weekend impound in El Monte. A couple of months later, the car was broken into and then finally totalled by a cell phone weilding driver who wasn’t paying attention as she yacked away on the bloody device. This particular woman fled the scene and actually almost destroyed our other car too, another classic..a 2004 Honda Civic. Boths cars were in front of our old house, full of stuff…we were moving that day! What a mess! The cops didn’t put out an APB or even a press release.
Her guilt got the better of her and she showed up and hour and a half later, crying…” I did it, I hit your cars, I’m sorry.”
The moral of the story, classic or otherwise, the local PD’s and Sheriff’s dept do a terrific job of locating stolen cars, usually without a press release being issued. They found ours two days after some kids took it for a joyride. Celebrities just seem to get a little too much limelight in Los Angeles.
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