Score one for the good guys!
Car thefts these days are out of control. Groups of professional thieves have been targeting all kinds of valuable rides, especially Dodge muscle cars, and they must be making a killing. All over the nation, Challengers and Chargers are getting swiped and either stripped of their parts before being dumped, taken on joyrides/used to commit crimes, or being shipped off elsewhere to be sold to someone else for a “deal.” And while we often assume the rides kept whole are taken to another country, sometimes they stay right here in the United States. Thanks to law enforcement in Texas, one such case has been blown wide open.
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According to the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office, they were contacted by the Birmingham Police Department in Alabama about a stolen Dodge Challenger. It was believed to be somewhere on I-20 traveling westbound, so deputies went looking. That’s when they spotted the muscle car in question on the back of a commercial vehicle transport trailer.
Normally, if you’re a commercial driver and the police pull up behind you with their lights flashing, you just pull over and see what the problem is. You might not like it, but trying to run from the cops doesn’t help with the situation. In this case, deputies say the driver, Denovar Kupp, tried to lead them on a brief chase before he pulled over. Maybe he realized there was no outrunning law enforcement since he wasn’t driving the Mopar?
Deputies ultimately arrested Kupp for Possession of Marijuana and Evading Arrest, taking him to the Harrison County Jail. It sounds like the vehicle on the back of that transport trailer was indeed the one police in Alabama were looking for, but the sheriff’s office says Kupp didn’t know it was stolen. There are a lot of unanswered questions here, but we’re just glad at least one attempt to stash or sell a boosted Dodge Challenger was thwarted.
