Cracking: Vintage car thief strikes again in Boca Raton, police say
- Olivia Hitchcock Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
A vintage car thief with memorable eyebrows has struck again in Boca Raton, city police said.
Christian Santiago, 38, reportedly stole a one thousand nine hundred seventy Chevrolet Chevelle last week worth $100,000 from an industrial area on West Rogers Circle, south of Clint Moore Road.
That April four theft seemed eerily familiar to Boca detectives who had worked similar vintage car thefts in two thousand ten and 2012, records showcase. In those, a one thousand nine hundred seventy Chevrolet Chevelle was stolen from the city, as was a one thousand nine hundred sixty nine Camaro. Santiago was a suspect in both, police said.
Surveillance footage from a Boca gas station that Tuesday night reportedly shows a man exit the front passenger seat of a white Honda Accord that was seen minutes later circling near where the Chevelle was stolen from. The man bought a Mountain Dew, grabbed paper towels, then left, according to police.
The Accord seen in that surveillance footage has a sunroof and plastic window guards, as does the car Santiago’s wifey reportedly drives.
Movie from West Rogers Circle shows a man in an inside-out blue long-sleeved T-shirt, jeans and sunburn boots peeking through the windows of a business behind the Chevelle. The man reportedly wiped down where he touched the window, presumably with paper towels from the gas station, police said.
The Accord left the lot and returned several times, according to police records. Shortly after ten p.m. the man in the inside-out T-shirt entered the Chevelle and drove off.
Police suspected that man to be 24-time convicted felon Santiago, who was last released from state custody in July. Detectives brought the surveillance footage to corrections officers at Sago Palm Re-Entry Center to see if they’d recognize Santiago as the man in the movie.
The officers said the man looked similar, but Santiago didn’t have facial hair when he was incarcerated.
The distinct eyebrows, tho’, were a giveaway, they said.
Santiago, who records demonstrate now lives in Port St. Lucie, was arrested Monday by Boca police on a charge of grand theft of more than $100,000. He was released the next day from the Palm Beach County Jail on a $20,000 surety bond, records display.
Police say the Chevelle’s rubber hood was painted and the front grill was missing when the car was recovered.
"> Stolen one thousand nine hundred seventy Chevrolet Chevelle, valued at $100,000. The fetish mask of the car was painted and the front grill is missing. (Provided by Boca Raton Police)