...actually lives in Iowa. We got a big laugh from this item in the Jackson County Pilot, Alleged car thief left old vehicle behind — in the victim’s garage:
It didn’t take Jackson County Sheriff’s Deputies long to figure out who stole a car from a rural Alpha residence earlier this month.
The alleged thief left his old car at the scene of the crime.
Mark D. Hotzler, 42, of Webster City, Iowa, was arrested June 2 and charged with the theft of a motor vehicle, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison, $10,000 in fines or both, stemming from a bizarre incident at a residence in rural Alpha.
On the afternoon of June 2, the sheriff’s department received a report of a stolen vehicle from Nicholas Von Ohlen of rural Alpha. According to court documents, Von Ohlen told deputies that the person who stole his vehicle had left his or her own vehicle at the scene of the crime, parked in his garage.
When deputies ran the license plate number of the abandoned vehicle — which had its doors locked — they discovered the car was registered to Hotzler. Von Ohlen recognized the name as that of his cousin, with whom he had not had contact in around two years. Deputies said Von Ohlen told them his cousin did not have permission to take his vehicle.
Further investigation revealed Hotzler had entered Von Ohlen’s house, also without permission.
Deputies had Hotzler’s car impounded and arrested him when he returned the stolen car to Von Ohlen later that afternoon.
The car sustained no damage and nothing was missing from it, deputies said.
Sounds like what we have is a failure to communicate. Like, when you don't have enough sense to ask before taking something, reasonable people don't see that as "borrowing."
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