Insurance offers reward for auto burglar's capture

By By Fredie Carmichael / staff writer
May 31, 2002
A nationwide insurance company is offering a $5,000 reward for anyone who provides Meridian police with information that leads to the arrest of an auto burglar.
Detective Deano Harper, a spokesman for the Meridian Police Department, said the unidentified insurance company wants to help police find the person who stole a client's 1999 Mercury Marquis last month.
On April 22, Harper said the car was stolen from a home on Highland Avenue. And, he said, a few days later police found the car abandoned on Railroad Street and 42nd Avenue.
Harper said the car theft is one of a rash of crimes, including auto burglaries, armed robberies and residential burglaries, that have hit the Meridian area in recent months.
In April, MPD reported 63 auto burglaries and 33 residential burglaries. By mid-May, Harper said MPD had reported 34 auto burglaries and 21 residential burglaries.
Harper said he was so surprised by the insurance company's proposition that he had to call the insurance company twice to make sure he understood.