Former Chicago Cubs star Kris Bryant recently found himself at the center of a thief when he tried to move his Lamborghini from Colorado to his offseason home.
Bryant, a member of the 2016 World Series championship team, currently plays for the Colorado Rockies.
Bryant’s custom gray 2023 Lamborghini Huracan was picked up by a trucking company at his home in suburban Denver on September 29, but never arrived at Bryant’s Las Vegas residence, police in the Cherry Hills Village suburb said. announced. The car is worth more than $300,000.
“You see things like this all the time in movies…I never expected something this elaborate and multi-agency to take place,” said Justin, one of the detectives who worked on the case.・Officer Smith told NBC affiliate KUSA. In Denver.
After investigating, police determined that the trucking company’s email system had been hacked, allowing the suspect to reroute the vehicle to an unauthorized location.
Cherry Hills Village detectives used a license plate recognition system to track the Lamborghini to Las Vegas, where they spotted it driving on the city’s east side. Police in the Denver suburb contacted the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, and officers arrested the driver.
Police records obtained by the Denver Gazette show the driver was a mechanic, a key clue. According to the mechanic, the Lamborghini was dropped off by Dat Viet Thieu, a 58-year-old man based in Texas.
Tiu was arrested as he was departing from a flight from Houston to Las Vegas.
The investigation revealed that Tieu had participated in a large-scale luxury car theft operation with multiple suspects. In addition to Bryant’s Lamborghini, police recovered several stolen vehicles, including a Rolls-Royce Cullinan, a Yukon Denali, and a Jeep Wrangler.
Bryant’s car was returned just five days after he contacted Cherry Hills Village police. Detectives said Bryant and his wife were thrilled to have their car back. They also noted that another vehicle associated with the Texas Rangers player was also recovered during the investigation.
“This was the most elaborate case we’ve ever been involved in,” Smith said. “The collaboration between VIPER (LVMPD’s Motor Vehicle Theft Task Force), the Department of Homeland Security, and the Denver FBI office was tremendous. That contributed significantly to our success.”
Thieu is charged with two felonies for possession and transfer of a stolen vehicle.
