LAKEWOOD, Colo. -- The owners of a family-owned car dealership in Lakewood are devastated after eight vehicles were stolen in one night. They say someone got into the dealership overnight and that person was caught on surveillance video stealing car keys.
"We don’t know how, we don’t know how they did it," said Marjan Kandi, who owns the dealership with her husband.
The dealership is equipped with a security system and surveillance cameras but Lakewood police say there was no sign of forced entry. Kandi says the thieves moved the outside security cameras. Instead of facing the parking lot, the cameras were pointed at the ground.
"I mean, they were professional. They knew what they were doing," said Kandi.
The car thefts happened as the dealership is facing a tough market: There's a shortage of cars and inventory is low. Imperial Autos used to have twice as much inventory but it has been challenging to find affordable used cars.
"It’s very discouraging, very discouraging and when the income is a lot lower than what it used to be, it really hurts the business," said co-owner Amir Tosh.
Tosh said they also faced the additional cost of hiring a locksmith to re-key the other cars in their lot. He was worried the criminals would come back and steal additional vehicles because they took most of their keys.
"I want other dealerships to know that so it doesn’t happen to them because it’s really tough," said Tosh.
Tosh said police have recovered five of the stolen cars but three are still missing, including a black 2018 Ford F-150, a dark gray Chevrolet Suburban and a burgandy 2015 GMC Sierra.
"Hopefully we find them, hopefully the police find the cars and hopefully it doesn’t happen to anybody else," said Tosh.