BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – A man from Westland has been arrested for his alleged role in the theft of $1.2 million worth of Corvettes in Kentucky.
They were stolen from the GM Bowling Green Assembly on Saturday, March 22.
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The investigation began when a woman saw a brand-new red Corvette pull into her apartment complex’s parking lot and called 911. She said a man she did not recognize got out of the vehicle and headed toward the apartment building.
The manager of the assembly plant came to the apartment and confirmed that the Corvette was taken from their plant. She called the assembly plant and had her team go through the inventory, which revealed that eight Corvettes had been stolen.
While this was happening, Warren County Sheriff’s deputies found another brand-new Corvette in the apartment complex parking lot. Law enforcement searched the parking lot and the lot of the apartment complex across the street, where they found another brand-new Corvette.
Shortly after, two more Corvettes were found down the street.
It was at that point, there was another 911 call. It came from a transport driver who had two men scheduled for him to transport a 2017 Corvette to Michigan, but when he arrived to pick the vehicle up, there were now three 2025 Corvettes instead.
The transport driver said the men tried to rush him and he decided to call police because the transaction seemed “weird.”
One of the men -- identified as Westland resident Deantae Walker -- was taken into custody by a police officer after a foot chase through the parking lot. The other man left in a Jeep with Ohio tags. No other suspects have been arrested.
Authorities said Walker refused to speak to police after being read his Miranda rights, but while he was being lodged at the jail, he reportedly said, “If I would have made it back to Michigan, I would have been paid big.”
The estimated amount for all the stolen and recovered Corvettes was $1.2 million.
Police believe nine people were involved in the large-scale theft and that the Corvettes were stolen at the same time, driven out of a hole cut into the assembly plant’s fence.
Walked has been charged with evading police, resisting arrest, receiving stolen property and criminal mischief.
