A man forced his way into a parked, unoccupied 2025 gray Honda Pilot on Clinton Avenue in East Tremont around 2:20 a.m. on August 1 and drove off with it, according to investigators. The SUV was found the next day roughly six miles away near Henry Hudson Parkway East and Manhattan College Parkway in Riverdale, but the suspect remains at large.
The theft happened outside 1879 Clinton Avenue, according to News 12, which reported that police described the suspect as last seen wearing a black and gray sweatshirt, black and white sweatpants, and light-colored sneakers. The address sits in a six-story, 30-unit residential elevator building constructed in 1937, near major corridors including East Tremont Avenue and the Cross Bronx Expressway, per Apartments.com. Investigators have not said how the suspect got into the locked vehicle, though NYPD precincts in the Bronx have issued public safety alerts warning that Hondas are frequent targets of thieves using electronic signal-cloning tools to reprogram keyless ignitions.
A Six-Mile Trip Across the Bronx
The path the stolen Pilot traveled — from East Tremont to a spot bordering Riverdale — traces a route across two distinct Bronx neighborhoods before it was abandoned and recovered. That kind of movement lines up with a broader pattern seen in other Bronx-area cases, where stolen vehicles have been temporarily dumped or shuttled across borough corridors, as documented in Hoodline's coverage of a multi-county stolen car pipeline tied to the Bronx. Police have not said whether this case is connected to any larger theft operation.
Officers are asking anyone with information to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS. The program, run through the nonprofit New York City Police Foundation rather than direct police funding, offers anonymous cash rewards of up to $3,500 for tips leading to an arrest and indictment in felony cases, according to the City of New York.
Tremont Remains a Citywide Hot Spot
The theft landed in the 48th Precinct, which patrols Tremont, Belmont, and West Farms and recorded 174 grand larceny auto complaints through late July — the third-highest total among all 77 NYPD precincts citywide, according to NYPD crime statistics. That's notable given the citywide trend: grand larceny auto complaints across New York fell 12.7% year-to-date through August 30, dropping to 8,018 incidents compared with 9,189 over the same stretch in 2025, per the same data.
The precinct also now houses the command headquarters for Patrol Borough Bronx North, a structure NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch launched in May at the 48th Precinct stationhouse on Cross Bronx Expressway to oversee six northern Bronx precincts. Citywide, homicides and shootings have hit historic lows through mid-2026, even as property crimes like grand larceny auto remain a persistent focus for patrol teams in the northern Bronx, the Norwood News reported.
What the Suspect Could Face
If caught, the man would face grand larceny in the fourth degree under New York Penal Law § 155.30(8), a class E felony that applies to stealing a motor vehicle valued over $100 and carries a potential sentence of up to four years in state prison, according to Saland Law. That charge applies whether the vehicle was taken for a joyride or intended for resale through a chop shop.
Nationally, vehicle thefts have been trending downward too, with National Insurance Crime Bureau data showing overall U.S. car thefts dropped 17% in 2024, falling below one million for the first time since 2021. Mid-size SUVs and passenger cars from Japanese automakers, including Honda models like the Pilot, remain among the most frequently targeted vehicles nationwide, per the National Insurance Crime Bureau. This case fits into a string of Bronx auto theft investigations Hoodline has tracked, including a $110K theft spree indictment announced earlier this year. As of now, police have not identified the suspect or said whether they believe he acted alone.
