Deputies investigate theft of 17 rental vehicles from Mitchell International Airport

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a massive car theft operation from a rental company at General Mitchell International Airport.

A sworn statement from a Sheriff’s detective says that 17 rental vehicles were stolen from Avis between July and October.

The detective says the people who clean the cars may be involved in the thefts.

When a rental gets returned, the car is taken to a lot right outside the airport for cleaning.

Police say one of the cleaning company supervisors was seen on security cameras bringing four vehicles out from General Mitchell.

They never were checked in to the lot.

All four were 2019 models.

The supervisor was taken into custody last month. He hasn’t been charged with a crime.

The manager at Avis told officers about another unusual incident.

He said a stranger came to the desk asking to retrieve $10,000 and clothes he had left in a vehicle, but the car had never been rented.

Then the man left in an SUV that had also been reported missing from Avis.

Neither Avis’s corporate office nor the cleaning company returned our messages.