Man caught on camera stealing car in South Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A South Philadelphia woman is hoping police catch the suspect seen on surveillance video stealing her car over the weekend, a crime that's on the rise in the city.

Alyson McCulley said her husband had started her car Saturday morning and quickly popped back in the house. When she looked outside, the car was gone.

Surveillance video shows a man circle the dark blue Honda Accord, open the door, and drive off.

"I parked directly across the street from where I'm standing right now," said McCulley, standing on the 200 block of Morris Street.

Police say the theft happened just before 8 a.m. Detectives have surveillance video and are investigating the crime.

"As I am reporting to an officer that my car had been stolen, my neighbor noticed his car had been ransacked," said McCulley.

That neighbor is Matheos Tsounis, who found a ring of car keys in his truck. Tsounis says someone broke into his vehicle, smashed the ignition, and likely dropped the ring of keys while digging through his truck.

"It's like somebody is invading your privacy. That's terrible," he said.

This block isn't the only one in Philadelphia dealing with crimes involving vehicles. According to the Action News Data Journalism team, there have been more than 7,600 reports of motor vehicle thefts in the city so far in 2022, a 600% increase from 2019.

"It felt like a really serious violation," said McCulley. "We live in a very close-knit community. I grew up here, I've lived on the same block my entire life, and to have something like this hit so close to home was really shocking."

McCulley says she posted about her stolen car on Facebook and more victims reached out to her. She says some of them found their cars abandoned in other parts of South Philadelphia.