4 Cars Stolen From Lake Murray Dealership, Irmo Police Investigating

Posted 5/17/22

The vehicles stolen were a 2020 Honda Pilot Elite, a 2015 Audi A3, a 2021 Honda Civic and a 2022 Honda Ridgeline.

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4 Cars Stolen From Lake Murray Dealership, Irmo Police Investigating

Posted

The Irmo Police Department is investigating a string of vehicle thefts from Steve Padgett’s Honda of Lake Murray.

According to incident reports provided to the Chronicle, four vehicles were taken from the dealership between April 29 and May 2 after an unknown suspect stole multiple keys from the sales office earlier on April 29.

The vehicles stolen were a 2020 Honda Pilot Elite, a 2015 Audi A3, a 2021 Honda Civic and a 2022 Honda Ridgeline.

Incident reports state that dealership employee Elliot Wilson informed a responding officer on April 29 that an unknown Black male entered the sales department at 7:40 a.m., before that part of the dealership opened.

“Wilson stated that only the service department was open at the time the suspect entered the sales department,” the reports state. “When the suspect walked into the sales department, he was talking on a cellphone while walking around the sales department looking through desks in the lobby. The suspect then entered the manager’s office, which was unlocked, and proceeded to grab 3 sets of vehicle keys. At this time the suspect walked out of the building and left the incident location.”

According to Wilson's account in the reports, the suspect returned to the dealership at 9:17 p.m. that day and manually checked vehicle locks in the dealership parking lot to see which ones matched the keys he had taken. He drove off in the stolen Honda Pilot. The suspect came back at 9:40 p.m. and drove off in the Audi A3.

At that time, the dealership believed that only a third set of keys, belonging to a 2017 Mazda 6, was stolen along with those to the Pilot and A3. The reports detail that the Mazda 6 was blocked in to prevent it from being stolen.

The reports state that the Civic was stolen on May 1, citing an account from dealership owner Steve Padgett:

“The complainant advised that at time stamp [6:28 p.m.], the vehicle listed can be seen driving out of the business by an unknown suspect. After reviewing the video it appears an unknown black vehicle drops off an unknown suspect at an unknown time due to the video jumping around from frame to frame.”

On May 2, the Ridgeline was stolen. According to another account from Padgett, a white van entered the property and drove to the rear of the parking area between 6:50 and 7 p.m. that night.

“The complainant advised that the video shows an unknown person, dressed in all black, exit the van and walk over to the listed vehicle,” the reports state. “The complainant further advised that the white van then exited the property, followed by the unknown suspect driving the listed vehicle.”

Irmo Police have not identified any suspects related to the thefts or indicated whether the vehicles were all stolen by the same person.


The department posted security photos of the suspect accused of stealing keys on May 3, requesting that anyone with information related to the thefts contact Midlands Crimestoppers at (888) CRIME-SC (888-274-6372) or submit a tip at p3tips.com.

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