Guests who paid $19 a pop to park their vehicles at Great Wolf — the only location that charges for parking in Manteca — had their vehicles burglaries on Thursday at the 500-room resort.

The 48 auto burglaries is by far the largest incident ever in one location within the same time frame.

Prior to the Thanksgiving morning break-in spree, the worst spat of auto-break-ins was at the city’s Big League Dreams sports complex in 2011 when three vehicles were broken into within a short time frame.

What makes the Great Wolf break-ins more ironic is the fact when parking charges were implemented several years ago, officials responded to media inquiries that it was to offset security costs and not simply to generate more revenue

Great Wolf is also by the only commercial property in Manteca with an entrance kiosk complete with gate arms that requires pulling a ticket to enter.

Manteca Police Department responded to the Great Wolf Lodge at 2500 Daniel Street at 7:30 a.m. Thursday morning- regarding vehicle burglaries in the parking lot.

Multiple Crime Scene Officers (CSOs) responded and determined there were 48 victim vehicles.

 Entry to the vehicles were done by breaking windows. 

Taken from the vehicles were electronic items, miscellaneous toiletry items, and at least one firearm.  

The CSOs processed the vehicles and took the initial reports in preparation for a detective to be assigned the investigation.   

The resort has security, but at this time police have not been able to determine whether Great Wolf’s security was in the parking lot while the crimes were committed.  

They have surveillance video that has not been released to the police department yet because Great Wolf Lodge wanted to compile the video first.  

Manteca has been averaging less than 40 auto burglaries during two-month periods.

A dollar amount for the losses has not been established.

Simply based on the average cost of replacing a side window, vehicle damages alone likely exceeded $50,000.

The police department repeatedly advises people not to leave valuables in their vehicles, but especially during the holiday season when people believe that presents and other high value items may be in them. 

This is an ongoing investigation.

If someone believes they have information related to this incident, contact the Manteca Police Department at 209.456.8101. 

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com