California law enforcement officers have apprehended a suspect whose trademark is stealing high-end cars like this Sea Wolf Gray C8 Corvette coupe.
The Regional Auto Theft Task Force of the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office tracked the suspect, Adelino Araujo Jr., while driving a stolen Stingray and eventually arrested him in the parking lot of a mall after a foot chase.

Authorities discovered Araujo was in possession of an unregistered handgun, $20,000 in cash, and key fobs for other potentially stolen vehicles.

He’s been charged with vehicle theft, possession of stolen property, carrying a concealed firearm, and resisting arrest.
Once he’s been taken care of in California, he’ll be extradited to Georgia, where he’s wanted in connection with several violent crimes.

In a Facebook post, the sheriff’s office said:
“Thanks to our relentless pursuit and the support of our task force partners, including the San Jose Police Department, justice is on the road to victory!”

HIGH-END HEIST, HIGH-SPEED JUSTICE!

A suspect known for stealing high-end cars has been stopped in his tracks!

Adelino Araujo Jr., wanted in several counties, was tracked by the Regional Auto Theft Task Force as he made multiple maneuvers in a stolen Chevrolet Corvette. His drive led detectives to a mall parking lot, where, after a foot chase, he was captured.
He was found with an unregistered handgun, $20,000 in cash, and key fobs for other potentially stolen vehicles.

Araujo Jr. is now facing charges for vehicle theft, possession of stolen property, carrying a concealed firearm, and resisting arrest.
But his ride won’t stop at the Santa Clara County Main Jail—he’ll soon be extradited to the state of Georgia, where he’s wanted in connection to several violent crimes.

Thanks to our relentless pursuit and the support of our task force partners, including the San Jose Police Department, justice is on the road to victory!

A Michigan resident arrested in Bowling Green on suspicion of involvement in the theft of eight Corvettes worth $1.2 million from the General Motors Bowling Green Assembly Plant was hit with an additional criminal charge connected to the investigation.

Deantae Cortez Walker, 21, of Westland, Michigan, was arraigned Tuesday in Warren District Court on a charge of engaging in organized crime. This charge follows his first appearance in court the previous day on three counts of receiving stolen property (valued at $10,000 or more) and one count each of first-degree criminal mischief, third-degree fleeing or evading police and resisting arrest.

Walker has pleaded not guilty to all charges even though they were caught red-handed and is due back in court Friday for a preliminary hearing, at which a judge will determine whether probable cause has been established to refer the case to a grand jury.
All eight Corvettes were recovered at various locations in Bowling Green and returned to the Corvette plant.
The Bowling Green Police Department arrested Walker on Saturday.

According to a BGPD incident report, officers were called to a Plano Road apartment complex by a Warren County Sheriff’s Office deputy, who had received a 911 call from a woman at the apartment complex who reported seeing a man in black clothing drive into the parking lot in a brand new red Corvette with the price sticker still on it.

The woman reported that the man got out of the vehicle and ran toward the front of the apartment complex, and that she had not seen the man before on the property. As Corvette plant quality manager Jenni Druen confirmed that the car had come from the plant, WCSO deputies found a second reportedly stolen Corvette at the apartment complex, according to a city police report.

Druen and other employees went through the plant’s inventory and learned that eight Corvettes were missing from the back lot. A third stolen Corvette was found parked at an Anise Lane address near the apartment complex on Plano Road, and two more missing Corvettes were recovered at an address on Cumberland Trace.
While attempting to locate the final three missing Corvettes, police received a call from a man who said he was a transport driver who had met two men in Bowling Green who had scheduled for him to take two 2017 Corvettes to Michigan.

When the transport driver arrived at the location at Lowe’s on American Avenue for the pickup, however, he met two men who had three brand-new 2025 Corvettes waiting for him to transport, the report said. “(The transport driver) advised (the two men) started to rush him while he was loading the vehicles, and he saw that they had damage on the bottom of them,” the BGPD report said.

“(The driver) told dispatch that this transaction was starting to seem ‘weird.’ ” Police arriving at the location saw two men, one who was later identified as Walker, walking away from the vehicles.
City police ordered the men to stop, but they began running, according to an arrest citation. Walker is said in an arrest citation to have yelled for a Jeep driving nearby to pick him up, but he tripped and fell to the ground and a BGPD officer caught up to him, leading to a struggle between the two. According to the citation, bystanders who witnessed the chase helped the BGPD officer get Walker to the ground, and he was handcuffed.

The city police report said the other subject fled in a Jeep with Ohio tags.
Walker declined to provide a statement to police, but appeared to remark on the incident while being booked into Warren County Regional Jail. While jail staff was starting the process of getting Wl lodged he made the statement

‘If had made it back to Michigan, I would have been paid big,’ ” the BGPD report said.

A grand jury last week indicted two men accused of stealing eight new C8 Corvettes awaiting shipment from the General Motors Assembly Plant in Bowling Green, Kentuck

Indicted on charges of engaging in organized crime, theft by unlawful taking of property valued at $1 million or more by complicity, and first-degree criminal mischief were Deantae Cortez Walker, 21, and Amarion Nasir Jordan, 22. Walker was also indicted for tampering with physical evidence, third-degree fleeing or evading police, and resisting arrest.

The eight new C8 Corvettes that were valued at a total of $1.2 million were found by authorities at various locations around the city and returned to the Corvette plant.