GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Grand Rapids Police Department says there have been 680 stolen and attempted stolen Kia and Hyundai vehicles since May 1.
A local couple says they felt violated after their car was stolen.
"When I heard (our car was stolen), I cried. I cried a lot," Carol Parsaca of Grand Rapids says. "Because how could someone do this to us?"
About a month ago, she got a call from her husband while she was out of town that their car was missing.
"When my husband walked out the door to go to work, there was no car," Parsaca says.
Their 2019 Kia Optima was stolen from the parking lot outside their apartment at some point in the night, and within 24 hours, it was found at Woodland Mall.
She says a 15-year-old and 12-year-old were found with the car, that had extension damage still being fixed.
"It's just really upsetting and devastating, to have this world do this to us," Parsaca says. "These kids having these TikTok challenges, or whatever the case is, it's just mind blowing. It's just mind blowing."
"This isn't just a Kent County issue," Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker says.
Wednesday night into Thursday morning this week, Grand Rapids police say there was another rash of stolen vehicles, on top of shots being fired, a police chase and crash.
There were eight teenagers involved, and they're being charged as adults. Becker says this often isn't the case.
"Unfortunately, you almost have to build up a record of non-compliance and get a lot of charges. And then we can do it through a traditional waiver and ask the judge. Essentially, that's asking the judge to move it to adult court. And we have been doing that," he says.
In cases like this, Becker says many teens are repeat offenders.
"There's no question. I looked at a case (where) I got a 14 year old right now on our docket," he says. "He committed like around 17 felonies over the course of a summer, because we can't house them."
Becker says the Kent County Juvenile Detention Facility can only operate with 80 beds right now because of personnel issues. By state law, teenagers can't stay in custody too long.
"People are under the impression that we just lodge them while pending a court hearing like we do for many adults at the Kent County Correctional Facility. That's simply not the case with juveniles," Becker says. "Very often, they're released within a very short time after something like this may happen."
Becker says the police have been doing sting operations to catch repeat offenders, and adds that his office is looking at an immediate diversion program so these teenagers can be assessed and get individualized probation so they can get help.
"We need to tailor things more individually for these kids. That's the ultimate goal is to correct this behavior before they become adults, because they go into adults, they're on the road to prison," he says. "And some of them are getting prison time as juveniles because it can be very serious offenses. How do we attack that to make it not alluring for these kids to be involved in this type of behavior?"
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