A Man In Maryland Was Caught Stealing Multiple Speed Cameras
The authorities in Baltimore have arrested a 67-year-old man for stealing traffic SPEED CAMERAS.
How Did He Manage To Snatch The Cameras?
Late one August morning, a white van with a blinking orange light pulled up to 2 Speed Cameras on West Patapsco Avenue in South Baltimore. A man wearing a hard hat and boots stepped out.
“To anyone passing by, it looked like a routine maintenance job,” said Baltimore City Police Officer Regan Miller.
But instead of entering a code to access the cameras, the man pulled out a grinder saw, cut through the locks, removed the cameras, and drove off.
Did Police Catch The Camera Thief?
Police later identified the suspect as 67-year-old Daniel Thomas Kerins. He has been charged with stealing 4 Speed Cameras from three locations and is being investigated for other possible thefts.
Kerins was released on August 31. Attempts to contact him were unsuccessful, and his father said he didn’t live with him, despite what Kerins told court officials.
Baltimore has about 160 speed cameras, part of a program relaunched in 2017. This year, the city expected to earn $26.8 million from speed and red-light camera fines.
When Did The Camera Thefts Start In Baltimore?
The thefts began on July 18, when a camera on Baltimore National Pike went missing. Even without the camera, the footage showed a close-up of a man looking directly into the lens before it was taken.
A month later, on August 14, another camera was stolen on Erdman Avenue. Footage showed the same distinctive van and an internal police bulletin was issued with a photo of the vehicle. A camera vendor spotted the van at the theft location and noted its license plate, which was registered to Kerins.
“We needed more concrete proof of who was driving the vehicle,” Miller said.
The thefts on Patapsco Avenue occurred on August 26. Two days later, police received a tip about someone stealing copper pipes from a vacant home on Edmondson Avenue. They found the same van at the scene, stopped the driver, and identified him as Kerins. Police said he presented an invalid driver’s license.
They compared body camera footage from the traffic stop with images of the man stealing a speed camera. “It was a perfect match,” said Officer Miller.
Kerins was arrested for driving without a valid license. He admitted the van in the footage was his but stopped cooperating when shown images of himself.
Police haven’t recovered the stolen cameras and are unsure of Kerins' motive. He had only 1 Speed Camera violation tied to his van, issued days before his arrest.
The investigation continues as police work to determine the fate of the missing cameras.
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Gallery Credit: Katelyn Leboff
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