New Orleans cops accused of swiping cars from dealership, 41 new Cadillacs taken

[Titanic]

October 9, 2005

BY MARY FOSTER

NEW ORLEANS -- State authorities are investigating allegations New Orleans police officers broke into a dealership and made off with nearly 200 cars -- including 41 new Cadillacs -- as Hurricane Katrina closed in.

''It is a very, very active investigation,'' Kris Wartelle, spokeswoman for the Louisiana attorney general, said Friday. ''We expect developments quickly.''

Wartelle would not comment on why the officers may have taken the cars or whether they were used in the line of duty.

However, the cars may have been taken before the hurricane even roared into town Aug. 29, according to the president and general manager of the dealership, Doug Stead.

Stead said the cars included 88 new Cadillacs and Chevrolets, 40 used cars, 52 customers' cars and a restored 1970 El Camino and 1966 Impala.

''We put the loss on new cars at $3.7 million,'' Stead said. ''The used cars ran another $900,000.''

When reports first surfaced last month that officers may have taken the cars, New Orleans Police Supt. Warren Riley said it was not considered looting because the officers patrolled in the cars.

'I knew we were in trouble'

''There were some officers who did use Cadillacs,'' Riley said. ''Those cars were not stolen.''

Friday, police spokesman Capt. Marlon Defillo said the department's only comment was that it was cooperating with the attorney general's investigation.

Stead said he got a call Aug. 28 while evacuating the city, telling him one of the dealership's garage doors was open. The rest of his trip was spent fielding calls about his cars.

''I had eight calls from people in an hour saying they heard I was giving police Cadillacs to drive,'' Stead said. ''It seemed like everyone knew about it, so I knew we were in trouble.''

Stead said he got calls from people telling him they had seen his cars in Baton Rouge, Houston and other cities with uniformed police officers driving them. He said people saw his cars parked outside a police precinct.

Keys to the new and used cars were kept in a locked box on the second floor, Stead said. The box was taken on a forklift to the third floor, where a blowtorch was used to open it, he said. For cars without keys, the ignitions were jimmied, he said.

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[Titanic]

That's not right. They should have had permission. How would a classic car help patrol New Orleans when the city was underwater? No wonder the city was in chaos for so long. The police were busy doing more high-end looting than the civilians were.

[MCGARRETT]

At least they stole American!

[460ford]

God that is horrible, And it's cops doing it too!

[Titanic]

Could you imagine having your entire life ruined by the Hurricane (lost your job, flattened house, no food or money) and the last peice of salvagable property that you own was stolen by THE POLICE!? I'm sure a lot of customers are going to be upset.

[tom3]

As the old saying goes, "If you can't be anything else, be a cop" or something like that. Seems like those N.O. cops were pretty low on the food chain. Wonder who's investigating? Cops?

[1BadPig]

I read somewhere that the N.O. cops are the most corrupt... now this proves it IF it is true.

[Canyonaro]

What do you mean? I am sure the police need to patrol in a nice CTS-V.