In two separate — and odd — car rental thefts last week, two women were handed the raw end of rental car theft schemes. In one case, a Philadelphia woman was trying to pay off her drug dealer by letting him test drive her rental car, and then another woman in Tampa, Fla., thought she was on a romantic movie date … but, unfortunately, both women ‘got duped.’
According to www.phillyblurbs.com, a woman was accused of stealing a rental car in order to give to her drug dealer to pay off a debt. Her lawyer said, however, that the woman’s debt was only less than $500 and that she was only letting him use the car for a couple hours. The drug dealer never returned with the vehicle.
The woman faces several felony charges including theft, and is also being charged with conspiracy for allegedly planning the theft with her drug dealer since she initially misled police about the theft. Her lawyer responded, “She was embarrassed that she was duped. She stayed there, waiting for the car to be returned. Fifteen minutes after it wasn’t, she called police.”
Click on the below URL for the full story from www.phillyblurbs.com:
http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/courier_times_news/cops-woman-paid-off-drug-debt-with-rental-car/article_b1ed1ff6-a31d-5278-9e08-d6f637595681.html
In the Tampa, Fla. Case, a woman was on a movie date but was abandoned halfway through. The man, Michael Pratt, 27, told the woman that he needed to get something out of the car, so she handed him the keys.
When he didn’t return she decided to call him, but she wasn’t welcomed with a very warm greeting. The woman said Pratt laughed at her, and then said “I’ve stolen your car,” and hung up. After two days of trying to get ahold of him on her own, she called the police.
Pratt returned the car to the woman two days after she contacted the police and was subsequently arrested for grand theft.
