A Florida car thief claims he was allowed to take a customer’s Honda from a shop because he was homeless
When you drop your car off at a shop, you likely have a few expectations. In addition to quality work, you expect mechanics at the shop not to hand your car off to someone who, well, doesn’t work there.
To the surprise of one Florida Honda Civic owner, a homeless car thief stole his sedan from a shop just like that. And the thief’s excuse? He told police he had permission to swipe the ride.
An unhoused Florida car thief said a repair shop allowed him to steal a Honda Civic to ‘take care of some stuff’
A manager at Gifted Hands Auto in Winter Haven, Florida, noticed that a 2016 Honda Civic was missing from the lot. It was a customer car awaiting collision repairs. But before the manager called the police, he contacted the vehicle’s owner.
The owner told the manager that she hadn’t returned to recover the Honda, meaning someone had taken the Civic without permission. According to the Winter Haven Police Department, the owner said she had not given anyone outside of the shop permission to touch or move the car.
Fortunately, it didn’t take long for the police to find the stolen Civic. After finding it near Winter Haven Hospital downtown, police prompted the stolen Honda sedan to pull over.
The driver was Christopher Rodriguez, 27, an unhoused person who had taken the car from Gifted Hands Auto, per FOX 13 News. But here’s the kicker: Rodriguez says he had permission to take the car from the Winter Haven auto shop.
Rodriguez reportedly told police that his friend, “Bubba,” told him that Gifted Hands Auto leaves cars out for homeless people to use from time to time. Police say he then modified his story to suggest that the manager of the shop permitted him to take the car to “take care of some stuff.”
The police obtained consent from the owner to search the car and found methamphetamines inside. To make things worse, Rodriguez had a suspended license at the time.
