Sheriff's vehicle, gear and gun stolen

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Serious safety questions are being raised after a Travis County Sheriff's Office vehicle was stolen. Thousands of dollars worth of police gear, including a loaded shotgun, is still missing.

When Travis County sheriff's cars are out of service, they are auctioned off to the public to buy. However, the locks are not always changed. Someone with a key to one of the old vehicles could use it to get into an active sheriff's car. That is what deputies believed happened on Dec. 24. Captain Art Cardenas mentioned how just one key will work in several different sheriffs' cars.

"After the cars are out of service, we auction them off," said Cardenas. "We rely on auctioneers to change the locks on vehicles. Sometimes it doesn't happen."

The sheriff's office has a take-home vehicle policy.

"The deputy had the vehicle parked and secured in his driveway," said Cardenas.

When the sheriff's deputy went outside Christmas Eve morning, the marked car had been stolen. Later that day, the car was found abandoned a few blocks away from the deputies home in a field, but it was already stripped clean of expensive police gear.

"The suspects who took the vehicle also stole a shotgun, [a] county-issued tactical heavy vest and [a] ballistic shield," said Cardenas.

Since the deputy did nothing wrong, he is not being reprimanded. Yet, this incident has the Travis County Sheriff's Office looking into kill switches for the vehicles. They also want to make sure the locks are changed before sending the old cars off to auction, instead of relying on the auctioneers to change to change the locks.

"A key was out there," said Cardenas. "That somebody was able to get into the vehicle and drive it away, so that is of concern to us. We are making efforts to prevent that from happening in the future."

The Travis County Sheriff's Office has pulled fingerprints from the inside of the car, but it will be a couple weeks before they find out if they match up with anyone on record. There was a serial number on the shotgun, and they have alerted nearby pawn shops to look for it.

Officials would like to hear from anyone with tips in this case. Mike Martin is the lead investigator in the case and can be reached at (512) 854-9776. The thieves could face felony theft charges if they are caught.