Shutterstock / Marco Barone
One of John Brandenburg’s prized possessions was his 1982 Sno-Cat that was painted like the ‘General Lee’ car from TV’s The Dukes of Hazzard. John would use this vintage and one-of-a-kind Sno-Cat to cruise around Colorado’s backcountry with his friends and family to find the perfect skiing and snowboarding lines around their town of Minturn.
Recently, John and his family went out to use the ‘General Lee’ 1982 Sno-Cat when they realized it was gone, missing, stolen. Before calling the cops they took to Facebook and posted that the Dukes of Hazzard Sno-Cat was stolen and asked friends/family if they’d seen anything. A social media manhunt ensued.
Before too long, someone reported seeing the 1982 Sno-Cat being towed behind a tiny Toyota truck down the I-70 highway. After that, a woman near Grand Junction said she spotted the ‘General Lee’ and she followed it until the thief pulled into his house. Once they’d secured the perpetrator’s address they went to the police and that’s when the SWAT team was called in.
Somehow, the thief managed to evade capture even though the local SWAT team was surrounding his house. How this is even possible is beyond me but it just adds to this already insane story. Once they cracked open the thief’s garage they found a bunch of other stolen gear.
The Denver Post reports:
Eagle County called Mesa County. When Mesa County sheriff’s deputies with a search warrant arrived at the home on Deer Park Circle on Sunday night, 27-year-old Jason Cuervo barricaded himself in the home, one of several high-end custom residences on a cul-de-sac bordering Colorado National Monument.
SWAT officers showed up, and 55 neighbors were notified to stay indoors.
Cuervo escaped, but the SWAT team did recover the Tucker Sno-Cat as well as weapons, ammunition, drugs and paraphernalia. Cuervo has several outstanding felony warrants. (via)
This seems like a really short-sighted crime. So, he steals this very recognizable 1982 Sno-Cat that’s mostly valued because of the ‘General Lee’ theme. There are tens of thousands of other vintage Sno-Cats he could’ve stolen but he chose this one. Does he re-paint it to sell it on the aftermarket or try and sell a stolen item that’s immediately identifiable?
Also, how does some thief who’s been holed up inside of his house, in the middle of Winter, evade a team of SWAT officers? Was there not a clear path of tracks in the snow for them to follow this jabroni? Regardless, the Dukes of Hazzard 1982 Sno-Cat was returned along with other stolen equipment and this thief now just has an even longer list of charges waiting once the police finally capture him.
For more on this story you can click here to visit the Denver Post.