The curious case of a Philly city councilmember’s missing SUV

Members of Philadelphia City Council — they’re just like us. So much so that they’re apparently not immune from having their car randomly stolen.

Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr., who represents West Philadelphia’s 4th District, earlier this month awoke to his driver frantically alerting him the pol’s city-owned Ford Explorer was gone — Philly is one of the only major cities that grants elected officials taxpayer-funded vehicles.

On the evening of June 30, Jones’ driver, who is also a staffer from his Council office, had parked the SUV in the driveway at his home near 54th Street and West Columbia Avenue, in West Philadelphia. When he came out the next morning, the car was gone.

“It’s a mystery how they stole it. I don’t think [the driver] left the keys in the car.”

The driver reported it missing to Philadelphia police, who arrived at the scene around 9 a.m. on July 1. According to a police report, the driver stated the vehicle had been locked. The same report indicated that nearby surveillance cameras were not operational, leaving little evidence.

However, Jones said, police later that day noticed the errant SUV was parked and unoccupied. Police records show it was sitting at 54th and Morse Streets in the city’s Wynnefield section — fewer than two blocks away from the scene of the crime.

Rather than putting this mystery to rest, the recovery only raised more questions.

Detectives found no evidence of a break-in, and Jones said nothing was taken — not even the sneakers and baseball glove he’d used to play in the City Council softball game three days prior.

Jones theorized an experienced car thief might have used some sort of “device” to unlock the vehicle and start it.

“It’s a mystery how they stole it,” he said in a phone interview. “I don’t think [the driver] left the keys in the car.”

As for why such a thief would just drop it on the side of the road almost within eyeshot of where it was boosted?

“According to my street legends,” he said, “I’m going to say they realized it was the councilman’s car and pulled over immediately and ran for their lives.”

Jones said investigators processed the vehicle and he planned to pick it up early next week. Over the last year, the legislator has put a bit over 7,000 miles on the SUV, which was assigned to Jones in 2016 and cost the city about $24,000, according to city fleet records.

He wasn’t the first politician to have a vehicle taken in Philadelphia. Last March, former-Councilmember-turned-convicted-felon Bobby Henon’s 2017 Ford Escape was stolen in broad daylight while it was parked outside his district office on Torresdale Avenue.

Henon had left the SUV running while he ran inside for what he said was “less than a minute.” Police found the car — his personal vehicle, not city-owned — later in the day, about 10 miles away in West Philly.

And in December, U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon was carjacked and robbed at gunpoint after attending a meeting in South Philadelphia’s FDR Park. Five teenagers were arrested in connection with the midday incident, while the car was later recovered by federal agents near Newark, Del.

Auto thefts in Philadelphia have skyrocketed over the last two years. In 2021, more than 8,800 vehicles were reported stolen — more than four times the number stolen in 2019. And as of last month, vehicle thefts in the city so far this year were up more than 40% over 2021.

Jones said it’s “a little embarrassing” that this time city property was involved. He’s just glad that the SUV purchased with taxpayer dollars was swiftly found and that no one was harmed.

“Council people aren’t immune to crime,” he said. “It happens to us, too.”

Staff writer Max Marin contributed to this article.