San Jose YMCA customers get cars stolen while at gym

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- Gym members were getting their cars stolen until YMCA employees in the South Bay figured out what was going on.

At the South Valley Family YMCA the scheme unraveled at the parking lot where surveillance cameras ended up playing a key role in the case.

Investigators say these men had a method when stealing cars. They would sneak into gym locker rooms, take key fobs from people's lockers, then use them to locate and steal the vehicles from the parking lots. They got away with it for a while, until they encountered a front desk employee at the South Valley Family YMCA.

"He walked by her really quickly saying he needed to use the restroom. When she sent a staff member there to find him, they couldn't find him," Julie Dougan, the South Valley Family YMCA associate executive director, said.

Not long after, a gym member walked in saying her car was stolen. The staff then reviewed their surveillance video and realized the same men who came into the gym were the same men who took the car.

Sgt. Ken Davis works undercover for the Santa Clara County Regional Auto Theft Task Force. He told ABC7 News, "We were able to piece together a couple other incidents that occurred where the similar method was used and vehicles were stolen out of other gyms in the southern part of San Jose."

Investigators say the surveillance video was critical in making the arrests. From it, an officer was able to recognize the car thieves. The three suspects have been identified as Richard Higgerson, Anthony Roberts and Colby Worsham, all said to be 24-year-old transients.

"We feel like it's a safe environment where you can just leave everything and just workout and come back real quick after we change, so it's kind of surprising that was happening especially at our gym," gym member Rohit Agarwal said.

In all, the task force has recovered five vehicles stolen from gym parking lots.