That doesn’t really seem solid to me
Well, that's because you don't seem to know what a bait car is...
The modification is usually just that the car shuts off in less than a minute. Some will disable seatbelt releases or lock the doors so you can't get out.
But the thing that makes it a bait car, is there's no risk of high speed pursuit. It is still a car.
For grand theft auto you need to prove they intended to actually steal the car otherwise it’s just joyriding.
What the fuck is that even?
You think if someone steals a car, the charges are reduced if they say it's for funsies?
At the very least it’d seem like they’d still be up for vandalism/destruction of property,
Again, you have no idea what I'm talking about, what the article is talking about, or how criminal charges work...
In general the value of the object determines misdemeanor/felony. Which I'm assuming you might not know, is a huge difference.
If charged on the actual value, no DA would charge. So they want to charge on the perceived value, which is still under the felony limit.
At the very least it’d seem like
Crimes under the felony threshold should be charged as misdemeanor equivalents...