A single mother and nursing student has her red 2002 Jeep Liberty back after it was stolen from the parking lot of Burlington Coat Factory at Steelyard Commons.
Garfield Heights police recovered the Jeep Saturday night. The car had been taken the night before.
Security footage shows three people standing near her car before breaking into it and taking off. Katherine Hughes was inside shopping when it happened.
“I asked the lady what happened and she was like, ‘Oh they stole it’,” Hughes said. “She just said it so calm like it happens every day and it wasn’t a big deal.”
Hughes says she waited for Cleveland police to arrive for nearly two hours before going to a police station to file a report.
“It made me feel bad, like they didn’t care,” said Hughes. “I’m sure there are more important things, but they could’ve at least shown up."
News 5 has been reporting on car thefts at Steelyard Commons for more than a year. Jeeps were targeted in February 2016. And, in December 2016, a woman was carjacked outside the T-Mobile store.
Hughes says her son’s car seat was inside her car, as well as her student ID and hundreds of dollars of books for nursing school.
Hughes said even though the car was found she still has to pay to have it removed from the police impound lot and any damage that occurred from the left due to her only have liability insurance.
A Go Fund Me page has been set up for Hughes to help her pay for what was stolen.
News 5 reached out to Cleveland Police and the owner of Steelyard Commons, First Interstate Properties, for comment, but have not heard back yet.
