MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Parking meters are all over Miami Beach, and thieves have been targeting them lately.
"It's been about a week we've been investigating a vehicle that is apparently ramming into these pay station meters that are located throughout all of Miami Beach," Miami Beach police spokesman Ernesto Rodriguez said.
The crooks have hit six meters so far before throwing the entire machine into their vehicle and driving away.
The machines themselves are expensive, running anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000, or higher.
But as for how valuable they are to the crooks. Let's just say, they won't exactly be able to leave their day jobs.
"There's very little money that's actually contained within these pay station meters. The credit card information that's in there is actually encrypted, so it's of no value to the criminal, but that doesn't minimize this crime," Rodriguez said.
Frank Ruscitti, who works for a maintenance company that services parking meters, was among the workers Thursday who were fixing the cement in a parking lot where one of the meters had been knocked loose and stolen.
"They tried to get it with a sledgehammer first," he said. "Then they just rammed it. They rammed the machine and then hauled away with it."
Anyone with information about the crimes is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.