An armed car thief pretended to be a customer at a used car lot in Frankford in January and took off in a Cadillac Escalade after booting a salesman out of the car during a test drive.
Now, more than a month later, police are asking the public's help to track down the thief and the missing SUV.
Police on Tuesday released surveillance video taken of the suspect at Best Buy Imports, on Frankford Avenue near Torresdale. The thief went into the shop about 3:45 p.m. Jan. 16 and is seen on surveillance video sitting down talking with a salesman inside for several minutes before the two walk outside to the lot.
It's at that point that police say the thief and the salesman hopped into a 2007 black Cadillac Escalade under the guise of a test drive. The man then drove the vehicle about a half-mile away, to Orthodox and Edmund streets, where police say he pulled out a gun, pointed it at the salesman's chest and told him to get out.
The salesman complied, and the thief took off in the SUV. He was last seen traveling on northbound I-95 near the Academy Road exit in the minutes after the robbery.
The thief is described as being 5 feet 8 to 5 feet 10 and 360 pounds. He walks with a limp and wore a red baseball cap, a gray hooded sweatshirt, a black vest and black jeans at the time of the heist.
Police said the Escalade did not yet have a Pennsylvania license plate but the last six digits of its vehicle identification number are 190935.
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Tipsters should contact Northeast Detectives at 215-686-3153.
