The cycle: Steal a car, get arrested, get released, repeat

The ongoing drama with stolen Kias and Hyundais continues.

More than 2,400 cars have been stolen in Monroe County so far this year. In one case, the 17-year-old suspect has been arrested eight times for the same crime.

The woman’s Hyundai was stolen July 4. She explained her husband tried to stop the thieves, but they almost ran him over.

The thieves are known to police, and it’s not the first time they’ve been arrested.

“My car is the eighth car he has taken, and two or three days prior to stealing my car he stole another car,” Bridget Marsh said.

She says it’s mind-blowing.

After a great day with her family on the 4th of July, Marsh’s car needed service. So, she had the car towed to the repair shop. Within an hour she went to the shop with her husband to get some of their personal belongings out of the car. That’s when they noticed the car was gone.

“On July 5th we got a call from Irondequoit probation informing us around 12:30 p.m. in the afternoon that our vehicle had been recovered and they also arrested three of the youth that were in my stolen vehicle,” Marsh said.

Marsh is frustrated with the ongoing cycle of steal a car, get arrested, get released and repeat.

“Extremely violated! When they finally recovered our vehicle, although there wasn’t that much body damage — there was some, but it was minor — the interior they had written all over, they had graffitied the inside with markers, all of my personal belongings, everything was gone,” she said.

Irondequoit Police Chief Scott Peters says county-wide car thefts are out of control and it’s the same repeat offenders.

He explained when they arrest these kids, they are out the door before the paperwork is done.

“In this case, here the same individual here that we had the car chase with the pursuit on a Friday morning — next week, the beginning of the week we are arresting the same individual for stealing a car,” Peters said.

He confirmed this 17-year-old suspect has been arrested just under 10 times.

“There’s no way that we can actually keep them locked up and keep them from just doing the same thing,” Peters said.

Marsh agrees and says she expects this 17-year-old will probably be back on the streets again to steal more cars.

“Yeah, it’s lawless,” she said.

The 17-year-old was charged with criminal possession of stolen property and grand larceny.

We reached out to Assemblymember Sarah Clark — who represents the Town of Irondequoit, where the arrest was made — to ask her about the laws releasing these kids on appearance tickets.

Her office said she wasn’t available to speak with me Wednesday evening.