A Milwaukee musician got his van stolen for the third time.
"They come in threes, right, so maybe this is the last one," said Michael Ritter.
The owner said the doors were locked all three times.
"It was locked and had a double hook club on it," said Ritter.
The crooks managed to pry the club off the wheel overnight.
"You can definitely see in the steering wheel there are cuts in the rubber that go all the way to the steel of the wheel."
Michael Ritter said his van was first stolen in Riverwest about six years ago.
"It was stolen at like 6pm in the evening and I was home."
Police found the van in a nearby neighborhood about a week later. Three years later Ritter said his van was taken in Bay View in the middle of the night. This time police found it in about three hours. Despite the bad luck, he wasn't expecting to wake up to find his van gone again.
"It's kind of unbelievable at first. Even though you know it's not there you still look twice like maybe I don't see my giant van right in front of me," said Ritter.
While Ritter was filing a police report, his van was found near Ogden and Van Buren.
"The keys were kind of messed up, the key locks."
He's not sure how much longer he'll be able to keep the van around.
"I play the upright bass so there's not a lot of options as far as vehicles I can choose, but I definitely kind of see a hatchback or a station wagon in my near future," said Ritter.
Police said older Dodge Caravan's are frequently stolen. The crooks took something from the van every time, but it was always found in pretty good condition.
