The District of Columbia is grappling with a surge in car thefts, averaging 20 stolen cars per day, with a total of 6,666 cars stolen as of December 20, 2023. Amidst this concerning trend, a unique case has emerged where the same car was stolen not once, but twice. The theft was captured on surveillance video near the White House, showing thieves breaking into a diplomat’s car on July 5. Strikingly, the stolen car was then titled by Virginia’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) on July 7, unbeknownst to them that it was stolen.
The standard procedure involves checking stolen vehicles against the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database before issuing new titles. However, in this case, the NCIC did not list the car as stolen until July 26, nearly a month after the theft occurred. Virginia’s DMV, asserting that their system was functioning correctly on the day of titling, explained that without alerts in their system, the title was processed without error.
DC Police assert that they entered the stolen car into the NCIC database on the day it was stolen, with a confirmation that the correct Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) was entered at 7:07 p.m. on July 5. Despite this, the NCIC did not reflect the stolen status until later. The titling of a stolen car, particularly one that had already been reported as stolen, is described as “unprecedented” by both DC Police and the Virginia DMV. The incident prompted a review of procedures and systems by Virginia officials. The owner has since recovered the stolen car.