The mother of a teenager who had her car stolen in Fort Worth is pushing police to find the suspect’s other victims after finding multiple other people’s belongings left inside the vehicle.
According to CBS 11 News, Katie Crum said that she was happy to hear that Fort Worth Police recovered her daughter’s car and made an arrest. However, when she went to the impound and saw what was left inside the vehicle, she was appalled that the arresting officer overlooked such evidence.
“This entire car was filled from top to bottom with just evidence, and other victims’ properties,” Crum told CBS 11 News.
Crum said she found a syringe and other possible drug paraphernalia inside the cupholder. She also said that she saw a gallon-sized bag full of powdered drugs that looked like meth or cocaine, as well as stolen credit cards, IDs, headlamps, crowbars, bolt cutters.
While Crum accepts that leaving the vehicle unlocked with keys in a backpack was reckless of her daughter, she is bothered that the suspect has more victims.
According to CBS 11 News, Crum believes that the suspect should be charged for five additional violations and has an issue with the fact that police “were nonchalant about providing resolution for other victims that could accompany the arrest.”
“There’s five additional charges that this person needs to be held for, you’re basically like, ‘Eh, not worried about making him pay for anything,’ and that’s not okay with me!” Crum said to CBS 11 News.
When Crum expressed her concern to authorities, she was told to “get rid of [the items].” She was not comfortable, however, with turning a blind eye to the “60-100 other people, other victims” whose resolution to their issues, she is convinced, are sitting in the backseat of her car.
Crum said that when she continued to complain, she was treated like she was overreacting and was told that was the protocol. She said she went up the chain of command, from the detective to his sergeant to the lieutenant, hoping to get the case taken up as she believes it should.
However, when nobody took her seriously, she took to Facebook to share her account of what happened.
Crum plans to gather a group of supporters to present their concerns to the Fort Worth City Council next week.
The Fort Worth Police Department told CBS 11 News in a statement: “It is standard protocol for officers to conduct an inventory of a vehicle prior to being towed to the auto pound. If items of contraband, weapons, or items of value are located during the inventory, they are removed from the vehicle and tagged in our property room. Often times, it is difficult to discern what property belongs to the original owner and what has been left behind by the suspect, especially when the owner is not on scene when the recovery or arrest occurs. In this circumstance, Internal Affairs is trying to find out what exactly occurred at the time the vehicle was recovered and why the property that did not belong to Mrs. Crum was left in the vehicle.”