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Woman Arrested After Driving Stolen Rental Vehicle for Two Years

Richmond Airport’s Enterprise Car Rental told police that the vehicle was stolen some time in December 2014, but it wasn’t noticed until last week after an inventory check.

by Staff
February 22, 2017
1 min to read


Vicki Lynn Smith was arrested in Richmond, Va., after driving a stolen rental for more than two years, according to a report by the Williamsburg Yorktown Daily.

Williamsburg Police Department assisted the Richmond Airport police in recovering the stolen vehicle on Feb. 16. The car was located at a motel, Maj. Greg Riley told the Daily.

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Enterprise Rent-A-Car reported the stolen vehicle and told the Richmond Airport police that the vehicle was stolen some time in December 2014, but the rental company didn’t notice the vehicle was missing until Feb. 16 after an inventory check, according to the report.

Enterprise used the OnStar service on the vehicle to provide its location to the police. Once Smith was located as the possessor of the vehicle, she told police that she had driven the vehicle since it disappeared in 2014, says the report.

Smith was arrested and charged with receiving stolen goods.

Click here for the full Williamsburg Yorktown Daily report.

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