Three Teen Carjackers Arrested for Bally’s Atlantic City Casino Break-Ins

Three 14-year-old boys in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania made several attempts to steal cars from the Bally’s Atlantic City parking lot.

Whether the high school-aged boys were inspired by Foghat’s “Slow Ride” and or the valet attendants in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, they were unsuccessful in exiting the hotel and casino parking lot with new rides. All they succeeded in was damaging the cars’ steering columns, which led to their arrests.

None of the perps have been identified because they are still youths.

According to Atlantic City police, each of the vehicles that were broken into were Kias.

A group of local detectives found the three-man team walking near the intersection of N Connecticut and Wabash avenues, less than two miles away from Bally’s, around 9:20 p.m. ET on Friday, July 14, according to their statements.

The detectives were out investigating break-ins involving vehicles at Bally’s from the night before when they recognized two of the boys. They detained and shortly thereafter arrested the group.

One member of the trio was found with a USB cable that is commonly used to break into Kia and Hyundai vehicles. A second was carrying a screwdriver, which is used to break the steering column and start the ignition of stolen cars.

The third of the boys was carrying credit cards later confirmed as those stolen from a vehicle that had also been stolen but recovered the previous day, separate from the ones that were broken into at Bally’s.

The USB and screwdriver-wielding duo were each charged with three counts of burglary and criminal mischief and one count of possession of burglary tools. The boy with the credit cards was hit with a stolen property charge.

The boys’ identities will remain confidential because of their juvenile status. They were all released with court dates they must appear at.

The Atlantic City Police Department is aware of a growing problem with car vandalism and break-ins, specifically with Kias and Hyundais.

“These vehicles continue to be the most popular cars and SUVs for car thieves, particularly younger individuals,” said the department.

To help protect locals, and also deter would-be criminals, Atlantic City police are giving out free steering locks to all local residents. All they have to do is bring their vehicle or a copy of their driver’s license and registration any weekday to Clayton G. Graham Public Safety Building at 2715 Atlantic Avenue between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Bally’s did not provide any official comment on the matter.

The company’s Atlantic City Property has been around since 1979. It has over 80,000 square feet of gaming space that includes roughly 1,300 slot machines, table games, poker, and more. It also has several famous restaurants, a FanDuel-powered sportsbook, and is one of the largest hotels on the boardwalk, with just shy of 1,200 rooms available for guest stays.

Bally’s was also recently in the news because of its connection to a company, Nomura, that helped solicit bids for a new casino in Chicago, Illinois. After Bally’s was selected as the company that would receive the casino license, it was revealed that Nomura stood to gain financially from Bally’s landing the gig.