A thief stole at least four license plates including two personalized tags, Sunday. The plates are estimated at a loss of $427.

Police were first notified at 7:33 a.m. According to a OU Department of Public Safety report, the reporting person told the police that he came to pick up his daughter's vehicle, which was parked over night in the priority parking spaces south of Couch Tower, when he noticed that her license plate was stolen, the report said. The tag reads ONV 999, said Joseph Lester, director of public safety. In the early afternoon another victim contacted the police. The victim said she found a sticker from the police on her car that notified her that she may have been the target of a crime, according to the OUDPS report. She checked her car and found that her license plate and her sorority tag frame were missing, according the report. The tag is a Texas plate and reads L57-WJY, Lester said.

Another victim found her personalized license plate missing. The plate reads KTSTANG, Lester said. According to the police report, the victim said she parked the car in the early morning hours. She said she remembered seeing her tag when she left the car, the report said.

Just a few minutes later a fourth victim reported that his license plate, which reads BIGDADY, had been stolen, Lester said.

The thefts occurred in parking lots surrounding Couch Center and Huston Huffman Center, Lester said. This is the same general area in which several cars were vandalized earlier this month causing several thousand dollars in damages. Lester said the area is heavily traveled by both pedestrians and motorists. OU President David Boren had ordered an increase in surveillance in the area as a result of the prior incidents.

Lester said if anybody sees any of the tags they should call the police. Stealing license plates is a state offense and there may be serious consequences, he said.

The license plates have been entered in the National Crime Information Center database, Lester said. The system allows the police to locate owners of recovered stolen property all over the country.

Connie Rogers, office manager at the Cleveland County Tag Agency, said if a license plate is stolen the victim needs to check with the tag agency and fill out a form that notifies the tax commission. People with personalized license plates have to put their regular tags on and they have to order a new plate to be made, she said.

Victims do not have to worry about losing their personalized message or phrase on the tag, because it is protected once it is bought, Rodgers said.

She said stealing personalized license plates is even more difficult than stealing regular plates, because the message on the tag is easier to identify.

Regular plates can be updated at the agency after filling out some paper work, Rogers said.

Psychology freshman Sarah Berkowizk said she saw a car coming from the OU campus with a paper tag in the window. The form said that the regular license plate was stolen.

This kind of vandalism is silly, she said.

"It doesn't lead to anything," Berkowizk said.

Unfortunately the victim has to pay for all related costs of replacing the tag, Rogers said.
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