Michigan thieves target Dodge Ram dashboard touchscreens — how this 30-second crime could impact all drivers
'It only takes a couple of screws to get the touchscreen out,' Det. Ben Leitch told Fox 2 Detroit in a story published April 7. He investigated 16 thefts in the previous two months.
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'This is definitely a crime that probably could be stopped if the manufacturer changed some security features,' Leitch noted.
So, who is affected by these thefts, and what can drivers do to protect themselves?
According to the local broadcaster, thieves are targeting touchscreens from Dodge Ram trucks manufactured between 2021 and 2025.
One victim, identified as Dave, says his truck was parked in his driveway when the theft occurred. It had been two weeks and he was still waiting for a replacement screen.
'It's still not fixed, so we're waiting for parts, I guess,' he told Fox 2 Detroit. 'When I get it fixed, [do] I have to worry about it getting swiped again?'
He added: 'I've never stolen from anybody and they do this. That's what hurts.'
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Police urge drivers to park their vehicles in a garage if possible, beef up home security and report any incidents, per the broadcaster.
Dave had a message for the criminals who broke into his truck.
'You're lowlife idiots, losers,' he said. 'Get a job.'
Those with comprehensive auto insurance should be able to file a claim for the type of theft described above and receive a full reimbursement after paying the deductible.
But for those without a comprehensive policy, theft generally isn't covered, and you could be forced to pay for any repairs and replacements out of pocket. Be sure to read over the details of your policy.
Beyond the direct cost of repairs after a theft, increased thefts on certain Dodge Ram trucks could lead to indirect costs for owners. Specifically, car insurance companies might consider it riskier to insure Dodge Ram trucks due to the break-ins, which could lead to a spike in premiums. Hopefully, if it could be easily fixed by the manufacturer, as Leitch suggested, a solution will be implemented.
Drivers who face a hike in premiums, regardless of vehicle, may want to consider shopping around and potentially switch insurance companies if a better rate is found. Additionally, don't forget to look for discounts. For example, you might tap into savings for having a safe driving record or bundling your home and auto coverage.
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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
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USA Today
5 hours ago
- USA Today
Michigan scandal timeline: Detailing Wolverines' NCAA run-ins late in Jim Harbaugh tenure
By the end of his nine-year run as Michigan's football coach, Jim Harbaugh had transformed his alma mater into one of the top programs nationally, fulfilling the high expectations that greeted him when he was hired in December 2014. In each of Harbaugh's final three seasons, the Wolverines won the Big Ten and made the College Football Playoff. They ended an agonizingly long losing streak to rival Ohio State, beating the Buckeyes in each of Harbaugh's final three years in Ann Arbor. In what would be his final act as Michigan's coach, Harbaugh helped lead the Wolverines to the College Football Playoff national championship at the end of the 2023 season, giving Michigan its first national title since 1997. At a certain point, though, Harbaugh's Wolverines found themselves in the headlines just as much for their off-field transgressions as their on-field triumphs. REQUIRED READING: Did Jim Harbaugh know about Michigan sign stealing? NCAA: 'Incomplete' The final stretch of Harbaugh's Michigan tenure was mired in controversy, with the football program he had built into a behemoth at the center of multiple NCAA scandals. First, there was an NCAA investigation centered around impermissible contact Harbaugh had with recruits and players while access to them was limited during the COVID-19 pandemic. The NCAA found that Harbaugh "engaged in unethical conduct, failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance and violated head coach responsibility obligations' and it handed him a four-year show cause. What followed was even more seismic. In October 2023, news first broke that the Wolverines were being investigated for illegal in-person scouting of future opponents, a scheme centered around previously little-known Michigan staffer Connor Stalions. After nearly two full and seldom uninteresting years, that saga came to a close on Aug. 15, with the NCAA slapping the Wolverines with what's projected to be a $30 million fine, suspending head coach Sherrone Moore for one game during the 2026 season, and handing Harbaugh and Stalions show causes of 10 and eight years, respectively. With that turbulent, albeit incredibly successful, stretch in Michigan's long and storied history nearing its end, pending an appeal of the ruling from Michigan, here's a look back at some of the major events of the final years of Harbaugh's tenure: REQUIRED READING: University of Michigan claps back at NCAA, will appeal sign-stealing punishment Michigan football scandals timeline Jan. 5, 2023: Michigan receives a draft of an NCAA notice of allegations in which the organization details allegations of impermissible contact with recruits during a dead period in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as an off-field analyst being involved in on-field coaching. At the time, it is reported that Harbaugh met with recruits and bought them hamburgers at the Brown Jug, a popular restaurant near the school's Ann Arbor campus. Jan. 20, 2023: Michigan co-offensive coordinator Matt Weiss is fired after the university said he failed to attend a meeting to discuss whether he had received unauthorized access to computer accounts assigned to other people in December 2022. University police had confirmed there was an active investigation into potential computer crimes at Michigan's football facility, Schembechler Hall. May 20, 2023: Three days after he was brought on as Michigan's assistant director of football recruiting, Glenn "Shemy" Schembechler, the son of legendary Wolverines coach Bo Schembechler, resigns after it was revealed he had liked a series of offensive Twitter posts, including from accounts that contended that slavery and Jim Crow segregation had positive effects on Black people and families. Aug. 12, 2023: The NCAA takes the unusual step of publicly commenting on an ongoing investigation, with vice president of hearing operations Derrick Crawford noting in a statement that "The Michigan infractions case is related to impermissible on and off-campus recruiting during the COVID-19 dead period and impermissible coaching activities — not a cheeseburger.' Aug. 21, 2023: Michigan suspends Harbaugh for the first three games of the upcoming season. The Wolverines go 3-0 in those contests, defeating East Carolina, UNLV and Bowling Green with four different head coaches. Oct. 18, 2023: The NCAA notifies Michigan and the Big Ten that it has received allegations that the Wolverines were involved in a sign-stealing operation that involved advanced, in-person scouting that is illegal under NCAA rules. Harbaugh denied being a part of the scheme or having knowledge of it. One day later, it is revealed that the probe is centered around Michigan off-field analyst Connor Stalions, who reportedly purchased tickets in his own name to games at 12 different Big Ten schools in order to have people film the signals used by coaches of upcoming Wolverines opponents. Oct. 26, 2023: Michigan confirms the FBI has joined the investigation into Weiss' unauthorized access into computer accounts. Oct. 31, 2023: Central Michigan announces it's investigating photographs of a man who resembles Stalions, wearing sunglasses and a Chippewas hat, standing on the team's sideline for its game earlier that season against Michigan State. Nov. 3, 2023: Stalions resigns from his position at Michigan, noting in a statement to The Athletic that he did 'not want to be a distraction.' Nov. 10, 2023: The Big Ten suspends Harbaugh for the final three games of the regular season, citing a violation of the league's sportsmanship policy. Michigan files a temporary restraining order, but eventually drops the case and accepts the punishment. With offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore serving as the interim head coach, the Wolverines go 3-0 in those games, highlighted by wins against top-10 Penn State and Ohio State teams. Nov. 17, 2023: Linebackers coach Chris Partridge is fired by the school after he allegedly destroyed evidence on a computer related to the sign-stealing scandal. Partridge, now an assistant coach with the Seattle Seahawks, denies the claim. Jan. 8, 2024: Michigan defeats Washington 34-13 in the championship game of the College Football Playoff, giving the Wolverines their first national title since 1997. Harbaugh says after the game that "We stood strong and tall because we knew we were innocent' when asked about the ongoing investigations into his program. Jan. 24, 2024: Harbaugh leaves Michigan after nine seasons to become the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers. Two days later, Moore is elevated to head coach. March 16, 2024: Newly hired defensive line coach Greg Scruggs is arrested for operating a vehicle while intoxicated in Ann Arbor, with a blood alcohol level that's double the legal limit. He resigns five days later. April 15, 2024: Michigan recruiting staffer and former star quarterback Denard Robinson is arrested after being involved in a single-car crash at 3 a.m. in Ann Arbor while intoxicated. He's suspended and one month later, the university confirms he's no longer with the program. Aug. 5, 2024: A leaked notice of allegations from the NCAA states that Moore deleted a thread of 52 text messages with Stalions the same day reports first surfaced about the sign-stealing operation. Two days later, Harbaugh is given a one-year suspension and a four-year show cause by the NCAA for his role in the COVID recruiting violations. March 20, 2025: Weiss is indicted by the FBI on 14 counts of unauthorized access and 10 counts of aggravated identity theft. According to the indictment, Weiss hacked into university computer systems and accessed personal data of over 3,000 Michigan athletes, most of whom were women. The next day, Weiss is sued by two former Michigan athletes, who allege he accessed their private information for his personal use. At least 74 women have joined the lawsuit. May 5, 2025: As part of a self-imposed sanction, Michigan suspends Moore for two games for the upcoming football season – a Week 3 matchup against Central Michigan and a Week 4 game against Nebraska. June 27, 2025: Harbaugh and former Michigan president Santa Ono are among the 48 people from the university added to the lawsuit against Weiss. Plaintiffs allege that the school knew about Weiss hacking into computer systems, but still allowed him to coach in the Wolverines' semifinal loss to TCU in the College Football Playoff at the end of the 2022 season. July 29, 2025: Central Michigan receives a notice of allegations from the NCAA over its role in Stalions' sign-stealing scheme. Aug. 15, 2025: The NCAA issues its findings in the Michigan in-person scouting case, including a 10-year show-cause for Harbaugh, eight years for Stalions, three years for Robinson and two years for Moore. Moore is also suspended for a game. Michigan announces hours later it will appeal the ruling. Aug. 15, 2025: The NCAA's finding repeatedly reference Harbaugh's lack of cooperation in the investigation into Michigan and his status as a repeat offender. According to the NCAA in a section subtitled "Head coach responsibility:" "The scouting scheme and recruiting violations in the football program demonstrate that Harbaugh violated the principles of head coach responsibility. Harbaugh did not embrace or enforce a culture of compliance during his tenure, and his program had a contentious relationship with Michigan's compliance office, leading coaches and staff to disregard NCAA rules. "For the scouting violations that occurred during the 2021 and 2022 seasons, Harbaugh failed to demonstrate that he adequately promoted compliance or monitored his program. Harbaugh is also automatically responsible for the scouting and recruiting violations that occurred after Jan. 1, 2023. "
USA Today
8 hours ago
- USA Today
Sherrone Moore suspension timeline: Games Michigan coach has missed in career
Potentially the final chapter of the Michigan football sign-stealing saga came and went on Friday, Aug. 15, when the NCAA handed the Wolverines a long list of punishments. Those punishments included another suspension for coach Sherrone Moore. Moore, who's in his second season as Michigan's head coach after being promoted from offensive coordinator following Jim Harbaugh's exit to coach the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers, is set to miss three more games over the next two years. That's after being suspended in 2023 for a different infraction in the Harbaugh Era at Michigan. REQUIRED READING: What is a show-cause order? Explaining NCAA's Michigan penalties Moore is set to miss two games in 2025, with the NCAA adding an additional one-game suspension for the 2026 season. Those games are to be served against Central Michigan, Nebraska, and Western Michigan. Michigan is certainly more willing for Moore to serve multiple suspensions rather than miss postseason play, although the NCAA said there was substantial enough evidence to warrant a postseason ban. Here's the full timeline of Moore's suspensions since he was hired by Michigan in 2018. Sherrone Moore suspensions timeline Sept. 2, 2023 Moore was suspended for one game in 2023 due to self-imposed penalties, as he missed Michigan's season opener against East Carolina as offensive coordinator. Moore was suspended for the game for a separate recruiting violation unrelated to the sign-stealing scandal that involved communicating with recruits during the COVID-19 dead period. The suspension also led to Harbaugh missing three games, as the Wolverines aimed to get out in front of potential future NCAA sanctions. Harbaugh was eventually given a four-year show-cause penalty and a one-year suspension for the infractions. Sept. 13 and Sept. 20, 2025 Moore will miss two games in 2025 as part of Michigan's self-imposed suspension for his role in the advanced scouting scandal headlined by former staffer Connor Stalions. Moore will coach in Michigan's Week 1 and 2 games against New Mexico and Oklahoma, his alma mater, before missing consecutive games against Central Michigan and Nebraska. The NCAA accepted Michigan's self-imposed suspension, but added an extra game for 2026. Sept. 5, 2026 Moore was handed an additional one-game suspension on Friday, Aug. 15, when the NCAA's committee of infractions handed a series of fines and penalties for the sign-stealing scandal. Moore's one-game suspension will be served in Week 1 of the 2026 season, when Michigan is scheduled to face Western Michigan at home on Sept. 5, 2026. Moore was also handed a two-year show-cause penalty after the investigation.
USA Today
10 hours ago
- USA Today
What is a show-cause? Explaining former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh's NCAA punishment
On August 15, about 22 months after much of the country first learned of the name Connor Stalions, the NCAA announced its long-awaited findings and punishments following its investigation into alleged in-person scouting by the Michigan football program. Per the NCAA's report, it found what it called "overwhelming" evidence of illegal in-person scouting, and punished several figures within the Michigan program at the time of the infractions and the athletic department. The scandal and its potential ramifications have followed the Wolverines since news of the probe was first publicized in October 2023. Much has changed in that time. Michigan won its first national championship since 1997. Head coach Jim Harbaugh left his alma mater to return to the NFL, with Sherrone Moore taking his place. Now, that seldom straightforward saga will be nearing a conclusion. One of the biggest questions heading into the NCAA's announcement wasn't just what kind of punishment awaited the Wolverines' program or how it would affect their coaches and players, but what impact it might have on someone who's now thousands of miles from the school's Ann Arbor campus. Harbaugh is entering his second season as the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, a job he left for a few weeks after guiding Michigan to a College Football Playoff championship game victory against Washington in January 2024. Though he wasn't directly implicated in Stalions' in-person scouting operation, which violated NCAA Bylaw 11.6.1 and led to Friday's punishment, Harbaugh presided over the program during that time and wasn't shielded from the NCAA's wrath. In addition to a four-year show cause penalty leveled upon Harbaugh for impermissible contact with recruits and players during the COVID-19 pandemic's dead period, Harbaugh suffered an additional 10-year show-cause for his role in the sign-stealing scandal. With stacking, that means Harbaugh has a 14-year show-cause overall. What, exactly, does that mean for Harbaugh and a potential future at the college level? Here's a closer look at the show cause and what comes with it: Is Jim Harbaugh banned from college football? By receiving the punishment he did for the COVID-era transgressions and his involvement in the Michigan sign-stealing scandal, yes, Harbaugh is banned from the sport, for all intents and purposes, as his show cause includes a one-year suspension, which would serve as a significant deterrent to any school interested in hiring him. Harbaugh's show cause is set for 14 years (four years for the recruiting violations and 10 years for the sign-stealing), meaning that he is effectively outlawed from coaching college football until August 2038, by which point the former Michigan and NFL quarterback will be 74 years old. In its ruling for the recruiting violations, the NCAA said Harbaugh "engaged in unethical conduct, failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance and violated head coach responsibility obligations." Harbaugh dismissed allegations that he failed to cooperate with NCAA investigators over the course of the probe. "The panel noted that Harbaugh's intentional disregard for NCAA legislation and unethical conduct amplified the severity of the case and prompted the panel to classify Harbaugh's case as Level I-Aggravated, with penalties to include a four-year show-cause order. Subsumed in the show-cause order is a one-season suspension for Harbaugh," the NCAA said. In its latest ruling on Friday, August 15, the NCAA wrote: "The underlying violations resulted in a head coach responsibility violation for former head football coach Jim Harbaugh (Harbaugh), and a failure to monitor violation for the institution. Further, several individuals failed to cooperate with the investigation and processing of this case." In Harbaugh's punishment, the NCAA repeatedly referenced his status as a repeat violator and a consistent failure to cooperate with investigative bodies. Thankfully for Harbaugh, he may not have to worry about returning to college football. Last season, he led the Chargers to an 11-6 mark, a six-win improvement from the previous season, and a spot in the NFL playoffs. As an NFL head coach, Harbaugh is 55-25-1. He previously coached the San Francisco 49ers for four seasons, leading them to three NFC championship games and a berth in Super Bowl XLVII. What is a show cause? A show cause is an NCAA penalty primarily reserved for coaches who have been found to have committed major rules violations. The punishment lasts for a specified period of time and is applicable to any NCAA member institution, meaning that if a coach commits NCAA infractions at one school, the show cause they received would apply at another university that's under the NCAA's jurisdiction. In effect, it means a coach is outlawed from coaching at an NCAA university. The measure is meant to prevent a coach from avoiding accountability for their role in rule-breaking. Should a school want to hire a coach serving a show cause penalty, it would have to appear before the NCAA's committee on infractions to explain why it wants to do so. In Harbaugh's case, there are several wrinkles to his show cause that the NCAA outlined when it handed down the initial punishment. If a school wants to hire Harbaugh, it would have to suspend him for the first full season. Additionally, he would be barred from all athletically related activities, including team travel, practice, video study, recruiting and team meetings, at any NCAA institution that employed him. Harbaugh's hardly the first prominent coach to be slapped with a show cause. In football, Jim Tressel received a five-year show cause for his role in the Ohio State tattoo scandal and Jeremy Pruitt got a six-year show cause (which remains active) for a slew of recruiting violations during his ill-fated stint as Tennessee's coach. Two of the four head coaches in last year's men's basketball Final Four had received show causes over the previous 20 years. Houston coach Kelvin Sampson served a five-year show cause for impermissible phone calls to recruits during his short-lived tenure at Indiana while Auburn's Bruce Pearl received a three-year show cause for lying to the NCAA during an investigation over an impermissible recruiting visit to his home while he was at Tennessee. Auburn made the unusual move of hiring Pearl five months before his show cause expired in August 2014, which meant that Pearl was unable to be in contact with recruits during that summer's recruiting period.
