A theft of eight brand-new Corvettes from General Motors’ Bowling Green Assembly Plant in Kentucky has led to the arrest of a metro Detroit man and the recovery of the stolen cars, which were worth an estimated $1.2 million.
Police say the heist unfolded early Saturday morning when police responded to a 911 call from a woman at an apartment complex on Plano Road. The woman reported seeing a red Corvette with a price sticker still on the window pull into the lot, followed by a man in all black who got out and ran toward the front of the building.
Officers arrived and l confirmed with GM staff that the vehicle had indeed been stolen from the nearby Corvette Plant. As they canvassed the area, investigators uncovered multiple other Corvettes parked in different spots nearby.
While tracking the stolen vehicles, a Bowling Green officer was tipped off to the locations of two more Corvettes at another apartment complex. Investigators later learned that a transport driver had also been scheduled to move a separate Corvette from Kentucky to Michigan — and found three more stolen Corvettes already being loaded at the time.
That’s when the transport driver, sensing something was off, confronted the man in charge of the load, later identified as 21-year-old Deantae Walker from Westland, Michigan.
According to police, Walker tried to rush the process.
Moments later, officers arrived. Walker ran but was quickly captured after a short chase and brief struggle. Bystanders nearby assisted in his arrest. A second suspect fled the scene in a Jeep with Ohio tags and has not yet been found.
All eight Corvettes had been taken in the same timeframe, and their combined value was estimated at $1.2 million.
Walker now faces several charges. During his book, Walker said ““if I would have made it back to Michigan I would have been paid big.” Video obtained by MDN captured the pursuit.
Authorities are continuing their investigation and searching for the second suspect.
