GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Kristen Kaltenberg never thought she would be another person impacted by the continuing car thefts of Kias in Grand Rapids until Tuesday night.
"Last night, my car was stolen a few blocks away from here," said Kaltenberg. "I woke up this morning and it was gone."
On Wednesday, she learned that that it was parked in an alleyway in between Tamarack and Pine Avenues.
"Well, you panic," said Kaltenberg. "Where's my car, what am I going to do... You just panic. You blank a little bit and it just takes awhile to get your bearings again."
Kaltenberg, who doesn't live too far from where the car was found, said besides taking the car for a joy ride, they also trashed the inside.
"It had been ransacked, they took pretty much everything, not that there was a lot in there. Took everything including strange items like napkins and what not. Left a lot of strange things, wrappers, packaging and what not like a phone case."
This isn't the first time there's been suspicious activity in this Grand Rapids alley.
Last month, 13 On Your Side reported on a group of kids getting out of a vehicle and casing parked cars.
Kerry Pangan put up security cameras facing the alley after concerns of illegal dumping.
" You know, I guess just try to be proactive," said Pangan. "Let your neighbors know hey, these these kids around. Are these people going around trying to open doors up? Maybe they can put up like a floodlight, even a floodlight could help but you can only do so much. "
Numbers from the Grand Rapids Police Department show that 140 car thefts were reported to police in July, that number, slightly down from June with 150 cars being reported as stolen.
For Kaltenberg, being another statistic is not something she planned for.
"It impacts me a lot," said Kaltenberg. "It's a lot of change in my life right now that I just don't need. So it financially impacts me."
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