Stealing a vehicle and selling it for scrap may become more difficult in S.C.

Stealing a vehicle and then selling it to a scrap yard for money could become more difficult in South Carolina.

The problem is one Horry County Police Sgt. Robert Kegler says does occur locally, as thieves try to make a couple hundred dollars off of their hot property while also having the evidence of their crime destroyed.

Jeffrey Rogers, owner of Waccamaw Metal Recycling in Myrtle Beach, said his business has unknowingly crushed stolen vehicles.

A new proposed bill in the state senate may help reduce the chances that a stolen vehicle is sold and destroyed.

“We have random cases where that happens,” he said. “It’s not rampant. It’s not like some of the other thefts that we’ve seen.”

Some of those other thefts included manhole covers and stormwater grates, which were being stolen and sold at junk yards locally until late last year. Police stopped the sale of such items to junk yards in November. Months earlier state lawmakers also attempted to halt the selling of stolen metals to junk yards by requiring permits for those transporting and selling nonferrous metals.

The new bill on which State senators Joel Lourie, D-Richland, and Larry Martin, R-Pickens, are lead sponsors, includes measures to deter car thieves from scrapping their stolen property for cash. The bill came before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee last week.

Currently, vehicles that are older than eight years can be sold to a scrap metal business without proof of ownership. The proposed bill would increase the minimum age of a car without a title to 15 years and would require dealers to keep vehicles they purchase without a title for 15 days before it can be demolished.

The vehicle could still be demolished immediately if the seller presents a title for the vehicle.

According to the most recent statistics from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, Horry County ranked second in the state in the total number of vehicle thefts by county with 1,252 in 2009. Horry County came in just ahead of Charleston County at 1,249, and trailed only Lourie’s jurisdiction, Richland County, which had 1,798 reported vehicle thefts in 2009. Georgetown County experienced 153 vehicle thefts during that year.

“We do have a lot of car thefts around here in comparison to some other areas in South Carolina,” Myrtle Beach Police Capt. David Knipes said. “But I don’t know of any issue of them being demolished at metal yards.”

North Myrtle Beach spokesman Pat Dowling said, “Car theft is not a big problem in North Myrtle Beach, but we do think the intent of the (proposed) law is good It will slow down the process of getting rid of the evidence (of a vehicle theft).”

Rogers said he supports the proposed bill but hopes lawmakers will lessen the waiting period from 15 days for vehicles without a title. He said keeping vehicles on their property for 15 days would be impossible without drastically expanding their yard.

“That’s not doable for us in our industry,” he said. “Sometimes we might buy 30, 40 cars per day. If you do that for 15 days you’ll end up with 300, 400 cars. We would have to have 10 acres just to keep it rotating all the time.”

Rogers said most states’ laws require metal yards to hold vehicles for two to five days, which gives vehicle owners time to notice if their car has been stolen.

With the exception of the 15-day waiting period, which he hopes will be decreased, Rogers called the proposed bill a “win-win” for law enforcement and scrap metal businesses.

If passed, the law would join other new restrictions recently put into effect to deter criminals from making money at junk yards.

In November, Sgt. Rick Thompson with the Horry County Sheriff’s Office said about 20 manhole covers had been recovered at area recycling centers. Thieves were able to work around a new permit law by selling the covers and stormwater grates because they are composed of cast steel.

But the metal yards have since stopped accepting the manhole covers and stormwater grates in order to prevent the thefts, Thompson said.

Last August, a state law took effect that required anyone transporting and selling nonferrous metals, such as copper and catalytic converters but not cast steel, to a scrap yard to first obtain a permit from the local sheriff’s office.

A permit for 12 months and one for 48 hours are both available and are free. A person is allowed two of the 48-hour permits in one year. They are designed for homeowners who have metals and equipment that they need to sell.