Multi-county police chase; Chicago teen charged, high-end SUVs stolen
WAUKESHA, Wis. - A Chicago teen is now charged in connection with the theft of stolen high-end SUVs that happened in Waukesha on Sunday morning, Feb. 18. The accused is Calvin Valentine, 17 – and he faces the following criminal counts:
- Burglary of a building or dwelling
- Operating a motor vehicle without owner's consent
- Receiving stolen property
- Felony criminal damage to property
Calvin Valentine
According to the criminal complaint, Waukesha police were dispatched to a car dealership on Moreland Boulevard on Sunday morning, Feb. 18. The operators of the dealership reported multiple vehicles had been stolen.
When officers arrived at the dealership, they spotted "broken glass strewn about the parking lot, a garage door that was a quarter of the way open and another garage door that was completely destroyed as if a vehicle had been driven through it," the complaint says.
The general manager of the car dealership shared surveillance video of what happened. That video showed around 6 a.m. Sunday, a silver "minivan pulled up to the garage door on the east side of the building. Approximately nine people, all wearing gloves and masks, unloaded from the vehicle and pushed open the garage door," the complaint says. The offenders made their way into the dealership, pried the key lock box open, grabbed keys and "then went about finding the vehicles associated with the keys throughout the dealership," the complaint says.
The complaint says the offenders took possession of a Land Rover Velar and "used this car as a battering ram and drove it through the garage door, causing substantial damage to the vehicle and the door." The offenders took possession of a second Land Rover and drove it through the same door. The first vehicle was left behind -- and the second vehicle was taken. The complaint says that second vehicle was recovered in Chicago at 8:30 a.m. that same morning.
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Dozens of police vehicles chased the vehicle down I-94
In total, officials indicated there were nine vehicles that were taken without consent from the Land Rover dealership. Those vehicles include:
- 2021 Land Rover-Range Rover Westminster
- 2023 BMW X5 M50i
- 2021 Jaguar F Type R-Dynamic
- 2023 Range Rover Sport P440
- 2019 Porsche Macan
- 2024 Range Rover Velar (2)
- 2024 Land Rover Discovery Dynamic
- 2020 Land Rover-Range Rover
Officials said the total value of these vehicles was $583,339.
On Monday, Feb. 19, a detective was alerted that one of the suspects in the vehicle thefts was taken into custody in West Allis. That person was identified as defendant Calvin Valentine. The complaint says Valentine was taken into custody after a police chase and crash involving a 2021 Land Rover-Range Rover Westminster. It was a vehicle valued at $73,998.
One of the vehicles crashed on I-94 just before WIS165
In an interview, the complaint says Valentine told police on Sunday morning, he was picked up in the Chicago area. "The defendant stated that his friend gave him a key and he got in the white SUV that he crashed during the pursuit with West Allis. The defendant stated he was just 'doing kid's stuff,'" the complaint says. Valentine stated "he did not know what people would do with these cars. The defendant stated he did not know where he was going when he was driving. He claimed to have never stolen a car before," the complaint says. Valentine then stated, "I'm not gonna lie, I stole the car." The defendant said he took the key off the rack inside the car dealership, but that "he only took one key," the complaint says.
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Valentine made his initial appearance in Waukesha County court on Tuesday, Feb. 20. Cash bond was set at $50,000.