Ontario woman steals car she thought was a rental for two weeks
When an elderly woman tried to return a stolen car to a rental company in Ontario, Constable Tommy MacKay has the feeling this wasn’t a normal case of grand theft auto.
“My initial thought was, ‘I’m going to have to find out where she got this vehicle from, or my God, how am I going to put cuffs on this elderly female,’” said Mackay on an As It Happens episode on CBC.
It all began late last month, in June, when a woman actually and legitimately rented a black Nissan Sentra in Cornwall, Ontario, from an Enterprise Rent-A-Car dealership. She was located about an hour west of Montreal.
Her plans? After she rented the vehicle, Const. Mackay explains that she simply went a few minutes away to the local Walmart where she had some grocery shopping to do.
“Shortly thereafter she exited, walked over to the area where she had parked her vehicle, saw a shiny black vehicle, hopped in it and drove away,” said Mackay.
This is where the accidental theft occurs.
According to CBC, the car that the elderly woman ended up driving away with was actually “a black Infiniti QX50, a hatchback,” not the black Nissan Sentra she had originally rented.
Both vehicles use a “key fob,” a device that allows the car to start without needing a key. If the fob is in or around the vehicle, the car can start. The owner of the stolen Infiniti QX50 had “accidentally” left his key fob in the vehicle.
The woman driving off was completely unaware that she had just stolen a car.
For the next two weeks, “She drove around and did her daily business” in this stolen Infiniti, said Mackay. Only the manager of the Rent-A-Car was able to finally put together what happened, as explained below.
“The man whose car was stolen came into the same Enterprise to rent a car after realizing his car was no longer in the Walmart parking lot,” says CBC.
When the manager spoke to the elderly male, he found out that he was the owner of a black Infiniti that was recently stolen from Walmart. When the woman, two weeks later, came to return the stolen car, the eureka moment happened.
Thief has her own complaints
The woman could not believe that the Rent-A-Car “didn’t even rent” the Infiniti QX50, and she had some complaints of her own. Namely, a dirty ashtray inside, too many papers in the glove box, and golf clubs in the back. She was complaining to the manager about the state of this rented car.
It wasn’t until the manager drover her the few minutes over to the Walmart lot that she saw where the rented Nissan was still parked. Then, the manager called police.
Constable Tommy Mackay is glad that this story of motor vehicle theft had a happy ending; he added that he had never experienced a case like this.
The perpetrator was a “bit embarrassed” but ended up shrugging it off while the victim had “a good chuckle” about the whole scenario.