Breaking into police cars and stealing the electronics inside got a Fort Wayne man four years in prison Friday.
Adham A. El-Khatib, 23, of the 2800 block of South Harrison Street, pleaded guilty to charges of auto theft and theft and was also found to be a habitual offender in November.
On Friday, Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull sentenced El-Khatib to four years in prison.
He was charged after a fellow inmate at the Whitley County Jail told police in April El-Khatib broke into three different police vehicles parked in the Fort Wayne city garage in. Police had asked El-Khatib about the thefts earlier but he refused to tell them.
El-Khatib and another man removed the center consoles from the vehicles that included computers, cameras and radios. Other squad cars were also broken into, with radios, siren box controller and other items taken, according to court documents
The two then stole a police car to use it to transport the stolen equipment to El-Khatib’s home. They later took the equipment to a storage unit, where it was recovered by police.
The amount of equipment stolen totaled more than $62,000, according to court documents.
El-Khatib has previous convictions in Allen County for theft and fraud, according to court documents.