Tysons Tire Bandits Strike Again in Residential Neighborhood

The notorious Tysons Tire Bandits have struck once again, bringing the total number of thefts in the area since February up to nine.

A Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) recap from yesterday (April 29) said tires were stolen from a vehicle from The Fountains neighborhood at the 1500 block of Lincoln Way.

This isn’t the first time the small residential community just north of Tysons Galleria has been hit by tire thieves. On March 7, an FCPD report said another vehicle in the community had its tires stolen.

At the time, a Redditor claiming to be the victim of the larceny shared a warning to others about the incident on the Northern Virginia subreddit. According to the Reddit post:

Hey all, just a quick warning. I just had the wheels stolen off of my 2018 Charger on Sunday night from the parking garage in my apartment complex. I filed a police report and the officer with whom I spoke said that this is becoming a much more prevalent problem in the area, with thieves targeting vehicles even in open parking lots.

My car had wheel locks, but unfortunately they really don’t do anything except slow the thieves down by a few seconds, as most of the perpetrators in this area are professionals, and are in and out within minutes. Just a caution for everyone, perhaps consider installing tilt sensors or dash cameras in your vehicles to prevent something like this from happening to you. Definitely the first purchase I’ll make once my car is back up and running.

When we last reported on the spate of thefts on April 9, the total was seven. Since then, the April 11 FCPD recap also reported that tires were stolen from a vehicle on the 1500 block of Westbranch Drive.

This is the fourth time tire thieves have hit the 1500 block of Westbranch Drive. Police said the location is an offsite garage for a local dealership, which made it a target for the thieves.

While the investigation is ongoing, police said the thefts are likely related.

File photo