DC Police Look for Thieves Who Stole Cars From Ruth’s Chris Valet – NBC4 Washington

Police are looking for two thieves who broke into a valet’s key box outside a D.C. restaurant and stole the keys to three luxury cars. 

It happened during a family dinner on Christmas night at Ruth’s Chris Steak House on 21st and L streets NW. While the valet attendant was parking a car, he saw two men wearing ski masks break into the key box and steal the keys to three expensive cars: two Mercedes Benz and a BMW.​

​The thieves took off in one of the cars, crashing into another vehicle. Then, they returned and stole a second car. 

Police were able to secure the third car before it was taken.​

“It looks like it was probably just a crime of opportunity, these folks walking by and seeing the valet stand there unattended,” Cpt. Jeffery Kopp, of the Metropolitan Police Department, said. 

​The two cars that were stolen belonged to relatives who had met at the restaurant for a holiday dinner.

One of those cars was recovered in an alley later Christmas night, but it had been set on fire. The other has not been recovered.​​

Kopp had some advice for those using a parking valet service.

“Some of these valets end up parking the cars out on the street or in a lot somewhere that’s open to the public to walk through. The safest bet is to go to a place that valets your car inside a garage somewhere, so it makes it a little bit harder to get inside there and then, once you’re in there, to remove the vehicle from the garage,” he said. 

In a statement, a spokesperson for Ruth’s Chris said: “We are very upset that this happened to guests visiting our restaurant, let alone on Christmas Day. We are working closely with those affected to rectify this very unfortunate situation, and with our third-party valet company to ensure that this can’t happen again.”

The valet service told News4 that it is working with police and taking steps to improve security.