MAHONING & SHENANGO VALLEYS - The owner of a 2019 Kia Forte in Youngstown is the latest victim of a car theft spree that the city and surrounding areas are facing.

Youngstown police reported 263 auto thefts and attempted auto thefts this year with many of the cars being Kia and Hyandai models.

Boardman police say 11 cars were stolen last month, and in each case the seat was pushed all the way up, as if it were driven by someone small.

Early Thursday morning Youngstown police caught two teenagers attempting to steal the 2019 Kia Forte.

Although the teens were caught, reports show they were not detained by the juvenile court center, creating frustration among Youngstown police.
Last month the number of reported auto thefts in Youngstown jumped to 68, that's 21 more than June. 

"Kias and Hyundais have been stolen at epidemic proportions across the whole country and especially in our Valley over the last year, year and a half," Youngstown Police Captain Jason Simon said. 

Simon says they wish the offenders would have been incarcerated for crimes like this, but the Juvenile Justice Center's chief probation officer Tim Novak, says their goal is to rehabilitate non-violent offenders.

"It's based on, we don't want to mix the population. We don't like to put low risk kids with our high risk youth," Novak said.  

Police advise vehicle owners to invest in an anti-theft device.