Man Steals Car, Reports It Stolen
Thursday, May 05, 2005
It's usually a good idea to report a stolen car — unless you're the one who stole it.
Gregory Alston, a 20-year-old from Baltimore, called the cops Tuesday morning to say his white Nissan Maxima had been taken, the Baltimore Sun reported.
But Officer Ronaldo Morales, who responded, already knew all about it — two hours earlier, he'd had the car towed after its real owner had spotted it in front of Alston's apartment building.
"Again, this really happened," Detective Gregory Jenkins signed off on his incident report.
The whole saga began April 20, when Sunday Smith reported that she and a friend had been carjacked by a masked man with a gun.
Because the car had temporary plates, the numbers of which Smith couldn't remember, police couldn't put out a bulletin for a specific vehicle.
In fact, Alston was twice stopped by police while driving the car, once even getting a citation.
It wasn't until Smith saw the car herself that police had any leads. But before they could even dust it for fingerprints, Alston solved the case for them.
After responding to Alston's call, Morales brought him down to headquarters, where he was interrogated by Jenkins and Deputy Maj. Jim Rood.
Alston tried to say he'd bought the car in March, but was a bit hazy on the particulars.
"He didn't know who he bought it from," Rood said. "He didn't know anything. So finally he just owned up and said it was a robbery."
So why exactly did Alston want police to find a car he knew he'd stolen?
He'd left his wallet inside and, according to Jenkins' report, "was trying to retrieve it without drawing suspicion to himself."
Said Jenkins to the newspaper: "Another detective told me, 'Greg, you had to make this up.'"
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by vidcc
Bookmarks