Gone in 60 Seconds: It’s not just a famous heist flick, it’s a reality playing out on Raleigh streets—and nationwide. And it’s precisely what the Raleigh Police Department Auto Theft Task Force is designed to solve.
By the Numbers: Cars Stolen
2021
Up 10.2%
1,130
2022
Up 13.4%
1,281
2023
Up 57.8%
2,022
2024
Up 20.7%
2,440
2025 (Jan./Feb.)
362
Mobilized in June, the task force has already seen measured success—so much that the new police chief plans to make the team permanent, says Lieutenant JC Black, who heads up the special unit. “Chief [Rico] Boyce has had a hand in the creation of this team from the very start,” Black tells Raleigh Mag in a sit-down interview. “He was our operations deputy chief when we discussed implementing this team and has been extremely supportive.”
An epidemic spurred by the viral TikTok Kia Boyz challenge showing how to swipe Kias and Hyundais with a USB cord, carjackers run the gamut from joyriding juveniles to organized crime rings employing 007-worthy tech like key programmers. “When we started heavily focusing on the Kia Boyz challenge, that opened this whole world of organized car theft groups to our department—and departments around the country as well,” shares Black.
Kia Boyz photo YouTube
And if it’s got wheels, it’s fair game. While Infinitis, BMWs and Mercedes are among the makes getting hit locally, Hyundai, Kia and Dodge top the target list. Fast-track felons move from dealerships to driveways, including a recent crime ring spree at dealerships swiping Dodge Chargers, Challengers and high-end Jeeps; and a masked summer parking deck heist at Midtown’s luxe apartment tower The Eastern.
Once snatched, gearshift grifters clone the cars and hock them on Facebook Marketplace and the like for a quick and easy buck. “It’s a lucrative business for them,” notes Black. “They turned to this type of criminal activity because the punishment is less severe. You’re not dealing with a rival drug dealer who might potentially kick down your door.”
Further fueling incentive, the National Insurance Crime Bureau estimates every crime has an 80% vehicle nexus, says Black. “Someone has to drive to the scene. We’ve identified stolen Hyundais and Kias utilized in violent crime—shots fired into occupied homes and several incidents where individuals were shot. We know by targeting these, we’re going to have an overall impact on violent crime in the city.”
Logos courtesy of brands
Beyond your casual joyride, there’s a handful of lucrative tactics employed to strip, smuggle or scrub the cars to make bank.
Title Washing Tactics
From Bond-like techniques to brainiacs, auto bandits can be very sophisticated, says Black. One such trick, title washing is employed to erase a car’s stolen past. By swapping VINs and registering vehicles in multiple states, they create a paper trail that hides its true identity, culminating in a clean title for an unsuspecting buyer. As state title laws vary, tracking these scams can be difficult, says Black. “We’re recovering cars from all over the place: Indiana, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida. We recovered a $187K Lamborghini Urus stolen out of Texas registered to somebody here.” Cars jacked here that aren’t recovered in the first few days likewise turn up in places like Charlotte, Virginia, Georgia and Florida. “This is something that is certainly connected throughout the U.S. with some of these organized core theft groups. It’s wild.”
Smuggled & Shipped
From driveways to docks, U.S. ports are pipelines for stolen cars shipped overseas for big bucks, says Black. Packed into containerships, these hot wheels are funneled to West Africa—usually Ghana—where their price tags multiply fourfold, fueling a lucrative black market.
Chop Shop Sting
Turning stolen cars into untraceable parts, chop shops are still a thing, but RPD is cracking down and making it harder for thieves to cash in by working closely with the NCDMV License & Theft Bureau to track, raid and dismantle illegal operations.
GRAND THEFT AUTO: RPD Auto Theft Task Force pictured with recovered Lamborghini Urus and Jeep Wrangler; courtesy of RPD
Ultimately, no matter the payoff, it’s a high-stakes chess match. “We were very quiet about our organized car theft group investigations early on because we really wanted to target them and get them off the street,” says Black. “But with everything we do, information ends up in search warrants and police reports, and when those investigative techniques get out, they try and get one step ahead of us—think theft methods, technology, etc. It’s certainly a game of cat and mouse.” But no matter how fast they pivot—RPD’s working to stay ahead of the curve.
Don’t be a Target
If it all feels a little Fast & Furious, here’s how to stave off the steal.
Track it: Install LoJack or hide Apple AirTag or similar device with disabled speaker to prevent detection and enable recovery
Power off: Unattended idle cars are theft magnets—and against the law.
9pm routine: Exterior home lights on and security cameras recording, valuable/firearms removed, vehicle locked, doors and windows shut, check for/report suspicious activity
Don’t arm thieves: Cars with guns are targets.
Update software: Prevent “Kia Boyz” theft methods with dealership software updates to Kias and Hyundais.
Remove parts: Remove start relay or fuel pump fuse to secure Dodges and Jeeps.
Lock steering: RPD provides free locks for Kia and Hyundai owners.
After losing her son to substance use disorder, a local mother and retired professor is making her voice heard with a new memoir exposing our health care system’s shortcomings and stigmas in combating the disease.
In her gripping new memoir, Slow Dancing With the Devil, set to release Feb. 4, 2024, Bartz Herrick details the heartbreaking experiences she and her son, Luke, faced throughout his decadeslong battle with SUD. But Luke never stopped fighting to get well. “I’ve never seen somebody fight back so many times,” Bartz Herrick says with admiration—but he ultimately passed away at the tender age of 30 after a relapse led him to unknowingly take an anxiety medication laced with fentanyl.
Bartz Herrick says she felt compelled to write something in the wake of Luke’s death. So, she “made the shift from the grieving mother to an academic” and began to craft a memoir. “What ended up happening was so much of the information Luke and I experienced—and then what I found out through my research—turned out to be a guide for other parents on what to do and what not to do and also exposing some of the challenges,” she shares.
Case in point: According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, an estimated 41 million Americans are at risk of dying from SUD, yet there are roughly only 7,000 specially trained physicians available to treat them nationwide. “So the disparity, and, I discovered, so much of the stigma, is what’s really driving this,” reveals Bartz Herrick.
A handsome Ivy League student with an emerging career as a Hollywood actor, Luke certainly didn’t fit the typical addict stereotype. “I want to enlighten people to show them what an average person who struggles with SUD really looks like,” Bartz Herrick continues. “Often when we hear about the fentanyl crisis, it’s focused on the drugs coming over the border. And, yes, we need to stop that… but they don’t take a look at who these people really are.”
Though Bartz Herrick is the first to admit our society must do more to care for the millions already afflicted with SUD, recent moves—such as the rollout of over-the-counter Narcan, an opioid overdose-reversing treatment—give her encouragement for the future. “I have seen quite the strong push these past two to three years. It is getting attention,” she says. “The fact [Narcan] is on the shelf now can be life-saving. I really do encourage any and everyone to just go get it.”
In addition to helping readers develop a nonstigmatized view of what SUD really is, one of Bartz Herrick’s greatest hopes for her book is it will educate parents about the different precursors for addiction. “Many parents, even those whose children have died because of this, still say, ‘What could I have done?’ or ‘No, they were just an addict,’” shares the author. “They had a disease no one knows how to treat. It is a downward spiral without somebody saying, ‘Here, let me help you; let me show you the way.’”
Indeed, people must become advocates if they want to create real, lasting change. “I want us to wake up, to challenge our ideals and to not be afraid,” Bartz Herrick declares. “I know my son would not have made it as far as he did had I not just been there fighting and pushing and pushing.” … And continue to push and fight for change she does.
The high has gotten higher—and deadlier. If you thought that weed in the ’70s was a crisis, buckle up. We take a look at what people are using to get high, to get by and what can kill you.
“Depends on the drugs. Some are easier to get than others. I could get shrooms and coke. Everyone has edibles.” Unsettling—but perhaps not shocking—words from the mouths of youths. This is what 17-year-old Wake County high-schooler James Olsen* nonchalantly told us when we asked him about his access to drugs. “If I wanted heroin it would be easy but expensive,” he says. “Weed is easy and inexpensive.” That same ease of access Olsen describes tracked across every teen, college student and in-the-know-adult we queried.
And about that marijuana—this ain’t your grandma’s weed. If we’re talking THC—the compound in weed known for the high—well, vaping the oil is de rigueur… and way more potent. According to a recent study released in the Journal of the American Medical Association looking at cannabis consumption: “It was surprising the magnitude of difference between equal doses of smoking vs. vaping,” where the latter “can produce drastically different impairment.”
And if we’re talking the smokable variety, “fentanyl is used to lace weed and cocaine,” Olsen tells us. That trend is echoed by Raleigh Police Department Sgt. Ken Barber: “We are seeing cocaine being cut with fentanyl on a regular basis.” Weed is also being laced with ketamine—a party drug that is particularly popular among teens and young adults. Read: We’re not in Dazed and Confused any more. More like an episode of Euphoria (a show whose sheer existence speaks to the gravity of the issue—not to mention it’s about drugged-out sexualized high schoolers).
Per the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, rainbow fentanyl—aka rainbow-hued candy-esque fentanyl fashioned after SweeTarts—is being used to target young people across the country. According to a recent public health alert, these pills “look like candy but are really a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine.” Read: deadly.
All that to say, it’s a messy drugscape. At the same time all of these drugs are ramping up, pot is being decriminalized across the nation, and a host of drugs (think ecstasy) are being legalized across the land for therapeutic use. Here, from farm (think herbs, plants) to pharm (opioids) to street (coke, LSD, MDMA, etc.), we dive into the drugscape.
Street Drugs
Sgt. Barber says that “cocaine and crack use remain steady,” but, despite its rise in popularity—and price—the drug is more dangerous than ever. A recent report from Vice found that deaths involving cocaine have increased every year in the U.S. since 2013, and peaked with a new record of nearly 25,000 last year. This is largely due to dealers intentionally selling cocaine spiked with fentanyl.
Euphoriafans might remember the chilling scene in season 1 in which the show’s main character Rue (Zendaya) is forced to take fentanyl by a violent drug dealer, which almost immediately knocks her unconscious.
While Rue does eventually wake up, that’s not always the case when it comes to fentanyl. Mac Miller and Prince are just two celebrities whose deaths were linked to the opioid, which is highly addictive and is also often mixed with such other drugs as heroin, methamphetamine and MDMA (aka Molly, ecstasy, E, Beans and Adams).
Locally, 28-year-old Moore County resident Nathanial Lynn Rush was arrested in December and charged with felony death by distribution. That law—implemented by Gov. Cooper in December 2019 in response to the rising number of opioid-related deaths in the state—allows law enforcement to prosecute dealers for drugs that cause an overdose. The 23-year-old victim had bought drugs from Rush on the day of his death in July 2021, and an autopsy report showed he died from a mix of methamphetamine and fentanyl.
With fentanyl-laced drugs on the rise, drug-user 28-year-old Dan Knox* says, “Honestly, I wouldn’t touch drugs these days without testing them.”
HERBALS
Kanna
“Like MDMA, kanna has mood-elevating and anti-anxiety effects. Some say it also helps them think more clearly. And sex on kanna is said to be comparable to sex on MDMA: Some describe it as sex in ‘HD mode.’” So says a recent report by Vice regarding the debated effects of the trendy new herb kanna (aka sceletium tortuosum).
The native South African psychoactive plant usually taken for its calming effects (a “heart opener” that gives you all the good feels) has been gaining plenty of attention—and traction—in light of its Molly-like effects. “An hour in, you feel like you’re full-on rolling,” a Vice reporter found by surprise on an LA retreat, “elated and full of ideas, wanting to shower everyone with words of affection, and you can’t stop grinding your jaw. When I told the leader… she said, ‘yes, it’s natural MDMA.’”
One-hundred percent legal—though the Food & Drug Administration has distribution standards—kanna is being sold in vape, powder, capsule, and flower (chew, smoke, snuff) form—and some manufacturers are selling it as a supplement. Zembrin mood booster, for example, contains 25 mg of kanna—which, according to reports, is enough to produce a high, as people can begin feeling mild effects at doses as low as 5 mg, with 25 to 50 mg considered an intoxicating dose. These psychotropic effects are thanks to its two inherent psychoactive alkaloids: mesembrine and tortuosamine.
Dr. Paolo Mannelli, a psychiatrist and associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University, agrees kanna can render euphoric effects at higher doses. “Essentially the supplement just makes the world a really happy place according to users—hence like the effects of MDMA (ecstasy).”
But in spite of its likeness to MDMA, kanna is reportedly safe—and some research even suggests it could prove beneficial for mood, sleep, cognitive ability and anxiety. The hitch is when it gets mixed with other substances—or is taken in super-high doses (100 mg or more). An OD on the compound will likely just result in an upset stomach, while mixing with other substances—specifically MDMA, SSRI antidepressants, MAO inhibitors or 5HTP, according to the Vice report—can put “you at risk for serotonin syndrome, an excess of serotonin in your brain that can lead to overheating, rapid heartbeat, shaking and, in extreme cases, death.”
Kratom
When we first dropped our story on kratom in November 2021, it broke the internet. Beyond going viral, the story also elicited a mixed bag of divisive reactions from both sides—those who witnessed kratom abuse vs. kratom advocates/users who went as far as to claim the supplement had literally saved their lives.
While we’ll leave the debate to the internet, as we prepared this feature, national news broke of a Georgia dad who unexpectedly collapsed at dinner and died, and—wait for it—the family suit blames a kratom supplement. Worth a Google—the suit is not an anomaly. … In October, parents (also in Georgia) sued after alleging their son died from taking kratom. And, back in June 2021, a 39-year-old mother of four died after consuming a kratom product by Grow LLC. And the list goes on…
For a quick refresh, while kratom is now being taken as a party drug, people have been using what has been dubbed by some as “herbal heroin” for years as a substitute for opioids, especially by those looking to quit, according to Dr. Mannelli.
And Mannelli has seen kratom use evolve to abuse: “We have treated people with kratom abuse with buprenorphine, which is the typical suggested treatment for opioid dependence for people who use prescription opioids or heroin. So kratom is, I’d say, a reasonable drug to avoid because it doesn’t give you any safer alternative for treatment than any opioid.”
PSYCHEDELICS
Hallucinogens as Therapy
A recently published study in The New England Journal of Medicine—the largest-ever trial of its kind on synthetic psilocybin mushrooms—found a single dose alleviated severe depression.
The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies out of California has also been studying MDMA as a treatment for anxiety, eating disorders and PTSD. Jonathan Lubecky, a U.S. Armed Forces retiree who lived in North Carolina for about 13 years, took part in a MAPS MDMA-assisted therapy trial in 2014. He had been struggling with PTSD since returning from a deployment to Iraq in 2006, and despite multiple treatments—exposure therapy, talk therapy, pills—he attempted suicide five times. After just three MDMA sessions, he felt restored.
“It changed my life. It’s the sole reason that my stepson has a father instead of a folded flag,” says Lubecky, who is now a veteran and governmental affairs liaison for MAPS and head of Lubecky Strategic Direction, a boutique communications firm focusing on psychedelics.
“The majority of people who are using this nowadays and the interest that it’s coming from isn’t because people want to see trees get wavy; they want to alleviate some of the stress—issues that come with being alive,” says Raleigh resident Brad Fields*, who has been suffering from depression and PTSD since he was a teenager and has also benefited from psychedelics.
Now in his 40s, Fields says traditional antidepressants stopped “doing what they were supposed to,” so he went a different route. For a time, he experimented with LSD and shrooms—though therapists advised him on how to go about them safely—and for about a year, he tried ketamine-assisted therapy, which is legal.
“I feel like it was kind of a game-changer,” he says, noting that each psychedelic produced a different feel. “I would recommend it. I think people should still do their due diligence to inform themselves, educate themselves on the risks and what they’re getting into, but I think it’s definitely a treatment worth pursuing.”
“I was raised in the D.A.R.E. era where you had good drugs and bad drugs,” adds Lubecky. “Well, good drugs gave us the opioid epidemic and bad drugs healed my PTSD, so I think we need to reevaluate those definitions and how we look at substances.”
Decriminalization of Shrooms
Once thought of as a drug hippies ate to trip on, “magic mushrooms” (aka psilocybin) have earned mass appeal. While Sgt. Barber says they don’t see a lot of reports from use, shrooms remain “popular around college campuses and college-aged people.” And, according to recent reports, shroom chocolates are a thing–now considered a “casual” party drug like alcohol.
Casual enough for well-known mycologist (aka fungi expert) and author Paul Stamets to recently blow up Twitter with the claim: “Let’s be adults about this. These are no longer ‘shrooms.’ These are no longer party drugs for young people. … Psilocybin mushrooms are nonaddictive, life-changing substances.”
Bold, sure. But maybe it’s all for good reason, as according to the 2022 Global Drug Survey, “magic mushrooms” are the safest recreational drug. Of a study of 12,000+ people who reported taking magic mushrooms, only 0.2% of them had to seek emergency medical care, a rate at least 5 times lower than that of MDMA, LSD and cocaine, and 3 times lower than weed.
All this is to say it’s no surprise shrooms are being decriminalized. Studies have shown that psilocybin mushrooms can help treat anxiety, depression and even addiction in some cases (magic or science?!). Of course, take too many and you can definitely have a bad “trip” and experience panic attacks—though the likelihood of ending up in the hospital is still low, with the exception of accidental injury.
*Asterisked names have been changed to protect sources’ identity
75% of Ketamine users are reportedly 12-25 years old already in the U.S.
Ketamine (aka Special K, K-hole, K-land, Kit Kat, among others) is surging in popularity in Europe and predicted to jump the pond…
40–80% The extraordinarily high levels of THC found in marijuana concentrates (aka “oil” used in vapes), which is up to 4 times higher than that found in top-shelf marijuanas (~20%)
2024 The year by which the Biden administration anticipates MDMA and psilocybin (shrooms) being approved for designated breakthrough therapies
10,000+ varieties of mushrooms
3+ Decades China and Japan have been using functional shrooms—in addition to standard therapies—to treat cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute
2018 Year Farm Bill bill introduced, including loopholes making some delta-9 products legal
≤ 0.3% The dry weight of delta-9 THC required for it to be legal—and only if derived from hemp plants, as the compound can be found in both hemp and marijuana plants
455 The Senate Bill passed in 2022 to keep CBD and hemp-related products legal in the state
107,600+ Drug overdose deaths occurred in the U.S. in 2021, according to provisional data from the CDC
~75% Of OD deaths in 2021 in the U.S. involved an opioid
37 States have medical marijuana laws, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
21 States, plus DC, have legalized it for recreational use
27 States, including NC, have fully or partially decriminalized certain possession offenses
2019 Year Denver decriminalized psilocybin, and Oakland, California, decriminalized the use and possession of psilocybin and other natural psychedelics
2022 Year Coloradans legalized psilocybin in November
2020 Year DC residents voted to decriminalize natural psychedelics, and Oregonians voted to decriminalize the personal use and possession of all drugs 9.22
San Fran decriminalized plant-based psychedelics (aka “magic mushrooms”), ayahuasca and peyote in September. The resolution also called for state and federal governments to follow in decriminalizing psychedelics.
Mace has plenty of puppy in him as he trots down the road, chewing on a rubber ball. His ears perk up and he shakes his head back and forth. His owner Kyle Breischaft looks at him and says firmly: Zitten. Mace sits.
Breischaft isn’t Dutch and Mace is no ordinary dog. Born in Slovakia, he is an elite working dog trained to sniff out narcotics, and you can hire him. Breischaft, a retired police detective and entrepreneur, recently launched a new company called Stealth Vigilance that offers drug detection services to private schools, parents who may suspect their child is using drugs, or businesses that want to make sure employees aren’t compromising the safety of others.
“This is confidential; it’s discreet,” he says. “If something is found, the client can decide what they want to do about it.”
Breischaft recently met with a local private school about his service. The school isn’t naïve to the fact that drugs may exist on campus; however, they also want the discretion to decide how to handle students who may be caught in possession of them.
“If they call law enforcement, all of their discretion is gone,” he says, and the matter is taken up by the authorities.
Family Matters
Breischaft has spent many years in law enforcement and served in the military but the idea to start this business came from a different job—fatherhood.
“I have a teenager,” he says. “I started talking to friends and most of them said they would want to know whether their kids had drugs. Many parents have suspicions but they don’t have a smoking gun.”
This revelation, along with the fact that he had always wanted to work on a canine unit, led him to Mace, who is trained in drug detection and handler protection. Mace joined Breischaft’s family in January and the two have been training together since then.
For $150, parents can hire Mace and Breischaft to sweep their house and determine whether or not their suspicions are founded without their child ever knowing.For one family, Stealth Vigilance has provided a way to rebuild trust after struggling with their son’s drug use.
“We really wanted to see signs of improvement, but he got so good at lying that there was absolutely no trust,” says the dad. “Our son said he [was] finished with drugs—but he had no credibility—so we didn’t believe him. We were just thinking we couldn’t find them. ”
The family turned to Breischaft to help them “trust but verify.” They were initially concerned about what the neighbors might think but Mace and Breischaft were discreet. After searching the house, Mace found no evidence of drugs in the home.
“If you suspect drugs in your house, having access to the best possible way to know the truth is a real help in the decision making minefield that is being a parent,” says the dad.
In a 2014 study published in the Forensic Science International journal, drug detection dogs (especially German Shepherds, Mace’s breed) showed an effectiveness of 87.7 percent in correct drug indications with marijuana being the easiest to detect and heroin the most difficult. However, some studies geared specifically at police canines have been shown to be less effective.
Since starting the business, Breischaft has also received many queries for bomb detection services, and the recent tragic shooting in Orlando may increase interest in the service. Breischaft has already started considering adding another dog to the team who is trained in this specialty; dogs are trained in either narcotics or explosives.
Family Matters