RICHMOND, Va. — Don't park your car at Richmond International Airport. That's the warning two drivers shared after their cars were stolen from the airport's parking garage.
Stephen Edward said thieves stole his 2016 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 after he parked at the airport for a Thanksgiving flight in November.
"I come back to the parking spot. And all I see is little bits of glass on the ground. And I'm like there's no way that my car is gone," Edward said.
Edward said he was left both without a car and a satisfying response from airport police.
"No one seems to want accountability for what's happening at this airport," he said.
Edward said after the initial report filing, he's had no responses in his attempts to get updates or when trying to provide details he'd gotten through his own work. Edward said social media posts about his case connected with other victims.
Jim Campbell said his car, also a Corvette, was stolen two weeks after Edward's car. The theft happened less than three hours after Campbell parked.
"Came back late at the end of my trip, and had the surprise of a little pile of broken glass and no car," he said.
Richmond Police later recovered Campbell's stolen car around Christmas in South Richmond.
Both Campbell and Edward said more security was needed at the airport to prevent this from happening to other drivers. They'd also like to see more police patrols, additional security cameras inside the parking garage, and signs warning drivers about the danger.
"It's just very interesting to where criminals think is very safe and comfortable to come to an international airport where supposedly security everywhere to steal vehicles," Edward said.
When CBS 6 reached out to Richmond International Airport about the drivers' concerns, the airport said over 960,000 transactions took place last year in their parking facilities.
They said of the 46 vehicles that were stolen, nine were recovered.
Most of the stolen vehicles were rentals, an airport spokesperson said, and 10 were passengers' vehicles.
They added current security measures include 49 cameras, a presence by the parking operators and patrols by airport police, especially at night, plus other measures they couldn’t share publicly.
The airport spokesperson said Richmond International is starting an upgrade to garage lighting this month and is in the process of "planning a significant upgrade of the camera system in and around parking facilities."
Still, Campbell and Edward want other drivers to take caution.
"Just Uber to the airport to avoid any of this hassle in general because it's not worth it," Edward said.
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