LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. — A teenager is accused of hotwiring a car and stealing it from the driveway of a Lehigh Acres home before picking up some friends and going for a joyride around town.
That’s just the start of the story. While riding around in the stolen Kia sedan, deputies spotted the group and tried pulling them over. The three teens in the vehicle bailed out and ran away.
Meanwhile, they left the car in drive, which drifted into a truck parked in the driveway of a home at the corner of Monroe Drive and Utah Way in Lehigh.
Deputies arrested one of the teens at the crash scene. The two others were tracked by LCSO K9s and found in the dumpster of a nearby church.
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office arrested Francisco Garcia, 14, charging him with grand theft auto, a felony charge. The two other teens were arrested on misdemeanor charges. According to state statute, their names will not be released.
According to the owner of the stolen Kia, Clyde Gray, he parked the car and locked it outside of his Thomas Sherwin Avenue home on Tuesday evening.
It wasn’t until he was walking out the door and headed to work on Wednesday morning that he realized his car was missing.
“Was leaving to go to work and cars gone, so I automatically called 911,” Gray told NBC2.
Garcia admitted that he stole Gray’s car and was driving around for hours. He even picked up a few friends along the way.
However, their joyride came to a halt when deputies patrolling the area spotted the stolen car and pulled them over.
While driving along Monroe Drive, the three teens bailed from the car and ran away. Meanwhile, they left the car in drive, which drifted into a truck parked in the driveway of a home.
“Just a big slam,” said Randy Nelson, who owns the truck. “The car was against that truck. It’s almost like hitting a brick wall.”
Running outside, he saw deputies wrestling with one of the teens in his front yard. The other two teens were sniffed out by K9s in a nearby church dumpster.
“Didn’t expect this on Thanksgiving Eve,” Gray said.
Admittedly, he’s heard about how Kia and Hyundai vehicles are easy to steal. But he never once thought he’d be the unlucky victim.
On the bright side though, he has his car back and the kids didn’t steal anything.
“They didn’t take my Jesus books in there,” he said.
The car has damage to the front bumper and the steering column. He won’t be able to drive the vehicle until insurance fixes it.
The post Teen allegedly hotwires & steals car in Lehigh Acres before taking friends on joyride appeared first on NBC2 News.
