LAKE WORTH BEACH, Fla. — What could be worse than getting back from vacation and finding out your car was stolen? Well, the answer to that for one Lake Worth Beach woman was getting it back and having it stolen again!
"It's just been one of those months," said Elaine McCarthy, who also just broke her foot last weekend right before her 2013 Ford Escape was stolen a second time.
The first time her car was stolen from her driveway on South J Street, she made a common mistake: she left the key FOB inside the car.
"It was dumb. Other place I lived at, I was able to do that," said McCarthy.
A few days later, she says Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office investigators found her car on South N Street, just a half-mile from her home. The crooks kept her key fob. To make sure the would not work, she had her car and spare FOB reprogrammed.
"We thought we had done what we needed to, but I guess not," said McCarthy, who added that her car doors were locked. "It looks like they were able to use the key and get back in and start it again."
After the first theft, she noticed her Ring doorbell camera view was not set wide enough.
"Then, I expanded it after that happened and the battery ran out the day before," said McCarthy, referring to the day before the second theft.
The good news, McCarthy said her car has been found again and close to her home once more. She is thinking of adding more security cameras and creating a network with her neighbors to share video, hoping the car thief or thieves will be caught.
"People also tell me to get the club for your steering wheel, but I don't know. That to me is kind of admitting to them that they've won," laughed McCarthy.
Anyone with information about the thefts is asked to call the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.