Suspected Northern Vanderburgh County Car Hopper Arrested

On November 28th, the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office arrested an Evansville man on charges related to the theft of property, including firearms, from vehicles in several north side subdivisions. Antonio Jamaze Harrell, AKA “Dump” was arrested on three felony counts of theft, two felony counts of theft of a firearm, three misdemeanor counts of theft and eight misdemeanor counts of unauthorized entry of a vehicle following an investigation by the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office. The Evansville Police Department, US Marshals Fugitive Task Force and the ATF assisted in the investigation.

During the course of an investigation of earlier thefts from vehicles, a subject known as “Dump” was named as a possible suspect in vehicle break-ins that occurred in the Bridlewood, Windham and Green River Estates subdivisions in northeastern Vanderburgh County in late October. With assistance from the Evansville Police Department and the US Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force, “Dump” was identified as Antonio Harrell. Deputies assigned to the US Marshals Fugitive Task Force located Harrell and brought him to the Sheriff’s Operations Center.

Harrell was interviewed by Sheriff’s Office detectives and admitted to “car-hopping” on a number of occasions. “Car-hopping” is a slang term for stealing from parked cars. He admitted to stealing several handguns, hunting and computer equipment as well as cash and loose change from a number of vehicles. Harrell stated he had sold the guns. Several handgun magazines and a stolen laptop were recovered. He also admitted to stealing a Ford Mustang which he abandoned it shortly after, stating, “It was too fast for him to handle”. Harrell also admitted to being the person shown in a video that has been prominently circulated on many social media sites. The video, taken this past weekend, depicts a person entering a parked vehicle at night and apparently looking through it for something to steal. Nothing was taken in that incident. He did admit to taking money from other vehicles in the same subdivision; however, these thefts were not reported.

The ATF is assisting in the continuing investigation as some of the thefts involve handguns which were apparently sold and have yet to be recovered.