Police Seize Stolen Corvette After Pursuit, Driver Claims It's His And Steals It Back From Impound Lot

The great philosopher John Lennon once said, "Possession isn't nine-tenths of the law. It's nine-tenths of the problem." That seems to be true in the case of a Corvette that a man wanted so much, he is now accused of stealing it twice. KOMO News reports that the yellow 2014 Chevy Corvette was reported stolen from the tow yard where it was impounded after a pursuit. The prime suspect is the man who drove it during that pursuit.

On January 4, the Washington State Patrol tried to pull over the yellow Corvette in Pierce County for having no license plates. Rather than stop, the driver took off, driving at high speed in oncoming lanes. The trooper used a PIT maneuver (which may have been justified here, unlike other cases) to bring the pursuit to an early end, and the driver, 21-year-old Duop Tiet Pidor, was arrested.

Pidor insists that he is the rightful owner of the car. He says he bought it in Oregon and it had previously been rented to other people. It's possible that he's got some claim to the car, but the lack of license plates and the fact that he ran from the police aren't working in his favor. And allegedly going back to steal the car from the impound lot isn't exactly proof of innocence, either.

After the initial arrest, police impounded the Corvette and had it taken to Hometown Towing and Recovery in South Prairie, Washington. On January 30, that same Corvette was reported stolen from the impound yard. Surveillance video shows a light-colored Tesla dropping off a passenger in the area around 2:46 am, followed by the Corvette driving away. Police found that the gate locks had been cut open.

Pidor and his family had contacted Hometown Towing and Recovery several times after the Corvette was impounded. According to employees, Pidor and family visited the lot to collect personal belongings from the car. Seems like a good excuse if you want to know exactly where the Corvette is on the lot before you steal it back.

After the Corvette was re-stolen, police got a warrant for Pidor's cellphone location data, which placed him at the scene at least nine times over a two-week period, and at all times of day and night. Investigators say this could have been "surveillance or scouting activity" prior to the theft on January 30.

The King's County Sheriff's Office later recovered the Corvette again, this time near Seattle, after following Pidor's location data. Prosecutors have filed additional burglary and motor vehicle theft charges against Pidor, in addition to the original charges from his pursuit in January.

This isn't the first time we've seen an alleged thief steal the same car twice. We can even understand the appeal of a Corvette over an ordinary Honda Civic, but breaking into an impound lot and trying to steal the car back is just stacking up crimes, whether the car belongs to Pidor or not. It worked for the cast of Gone In 60 Seconds, but that movie was made way before cellphone tracking data was available. And, ya know, it was a movie.