Tysons condo community looks to improve security after auto-related thefts

Thieves have been stealing items from unlocked vehicles in a local gated community, residents say.

Doug Doolittle, the president of the Rotonda Condominium Unit Owners Association in Tysons, said in an email that four professional, hooded thieves rifled through unlocked vehicles last week and stole small items from unlocked cars.

“This is the first time that something like this has happened at the Rotonda and we are, of course, very concerned and are looking at a number of enhancements we can take to prevent this from happening again,” he told Tysons Reporter.

The condo association, which is located at 8352 Greensboro Drive, is reminding residents to lock their vehicles and looking at ways to enhance patrolling, remote video camera, and lighting plans to improve coverage, particularly at night in some of the more remote areas of the residential compound.

Rotonda is also coordinating with Fairfax County police and trying to see if there are any lessons learned from other communities that have experienced similar issues.

The incidents have not yet been reported on Spot Crime, which uses county data to map reported crimes, but it does show that a vehicle tampering incident was reported nearby last month at an office park in the 8200 block of Greensboro Drive.

A female victim reported that after getting off work around 5:50 p.m. on Sept. 28, she began to reverse her vehicle in a second level of a parking garage when her front passenger-side wheel fell off and the rear one became loose and wedged at an angle.

Police later found that all of the lugnuts on her front passenger side wheel had been undone, along with four out of the five lugnuts of her rear passenger side wheel.

“It appeared as though someone was attempting to steal her tires but was scared off by someone or something halfway through the process,” police said in a report.

Police offered to jack up the vehicle and reattach the wheels if the victim had the proper equipment, which she did, but police found there was damage to the undercarriage and the fix wouldn’t be simple.

Police said they stayed on scene until the woman’s husband could arrive.

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