Friday, Dec. 20, 2002 | 11:22 a.m.
Five-year-old Monique Cochran asked Santa Claus for a Barbie travel trailer, a toy oven and "hair twirl things" for Christmas, her grandmother said.
But Santa might not be coming to her home this year.
Two weeks ago, her family's 1985 Chevrolet Blazer was stolen. It turned up a few days later, damaged, in a towing lot.
After paying for repairs and towing lot storage, which cost more than $600, her parents and grandmother didn't have enough to pay $297 for the little girl's gifts that they put on layaway at Wal-Mart.
"We start laying away our Christmas gifts in October," Monique's grandmother, Marilyn Johnson, said through tears. "Anybody's budget can't afford $600 a week before Christmas."
More than 2,000 vehicles are reported stolen from Metro's jurisdiction every month. Car theft might seem insignificant in a city that sees more than 120 homicides a year. But to the victims -- especially ones of modest means -- a stolen car can equal a major setback.
Johnson lives in a mobile home near Bonanza Road and Washington Avenue with her 33-year-old son, Ron Cochran, who owns the vehicle, his wife, Mary, and Monique.
They share expenses: Johnson pays the rent and the Cochrans pay utilities. Sixty-year-old Johnson, a retired Texas corrections officer, takes care of Monique while her parents work at the La Bayou casino in downtown Las Vegas.
The Blazer was stolen between 6:15 p.m. Dec. 3 and 9 a.m. Dec. 4 while parked on the street in front of Mary Cochran's sister's apartment complex on West Flamingo Road near Jones Boulevard.
Ron Cochran filed a car theft report with Metro over the phone, and the officer said someone would call if they found his truck.
But instead of waiting, Ron Cochran called around to towing lots to see if he could find it himself. He tracked it down Sunday, Dec. 8 at Quality Towing, which has a contract with Metro.
That morning, a Metro officer had found Cochran's truck parked at Jones Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue, discovered it had been reported stolen and had it towed to Quality Towing, Auto Theft Detail Sgt. Al Bechyne said.
When an officer finds a stolen car, he or she routinely calls it into dispatch and has the dispatcher call the owner and ask that they pick up the car. On weekends, however, the cars are automatically towed.
Victims can also check the auto theft database of Metro's website. It lists the license plate number of every recovered stolen car found in Metro's jurisdiction, along with the tow yard where it can be picked up.
Cochran's truck is driveable, but it sustained more than $400 worth of damage. The steering column was broken, the door locks were punched out, and it appeared the dashboard had been beaten with a crowbar, he said. About $1,500 worth of Cochran's tools were also stolen from the truck.
He also had to pay more than $250 in storage fees to the towing yard.
Cochran uses a screwdriver to start his truck, and he can't lock the doors, so he doesn't want to park it and leave it in a parking lot.
He has collision and liability coverage on his truck, but his insurance doesn't cover theft, he said.
The theft was especially painful to Cochran because his Blazer was more than just transportation. He bought it from a friend who died a year ago.
"When I drive that truck, there are all these memories," Cochran said.
Mary Cochran, knowing how much the truck meant to her husband, became distraught when she realized it had been stolen.
"She went into a depression because she thought it was her fault," Johnson said. "We had to keep telling her, 'It wasn't your fault, it wasn't your fault.'th"
The theft has also been hard on Johnson. Since the Blazer's doors don't lock, Johnson has been driving the Cochrans to and from work in her Chevrolet Lumina.
"I have to pick Mary up at 2 a.m., drive Ron to work at 4 a.m., then get Monique up at 8 a.m. for school," Johnson said. "I ended up in the hospital for stress and exhaustion."
Instead of looking forward to Christmas, the family found itself trying to figure out how police investigate car thefts. Johnson, who has a degree in criminal justice, couldn't understand why Metro didn't dust the inside of the Blazer for fingerprints.
Bechyne explained that a few years ago Sheriff Jerry Keller decided to put an end to dusting for prints because it there were too many to do, and it became too costly. Each dusting cost Metro several hundred dollars.
The fingerprint dust is difficult to remove from surfaces, so car theft victims filed claims against Metro for the damage, police said.
Now, Metro officers only dust for prints when a vehicle is involved in a homicide, kidnapping, robbery or rape.
Bechyne said he feels bad for the Cochrans and Johnson.
"Unfortunately, there are so many victims out there in the same situation," he said. "We're sympathetic."
The Cochrans and Johnson know they won't be able to give Monique the Christmas she was looking forward to so much, and they tried to break the news gently.
"Christmas is going to be very meager, extremely limited," Johnson said. "We told her we hope Santa Claus got her letter, but we can't guarantee it. We told her, 'Please don't get mad at Santa Claus.'th"
She added: "Whenever I read about someone's car being stolen, I think, 'That's sad,' but I never stop and try to comprehend it. I'd like this lowlife to know how much he's affected our lives."
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