WESTMINSTER, Md. — A 64-year-old man was arrested after police say he stole a car from a car dealership in Westminster and then stole electric fire places from Walmart.
On Thursday morning police were called to Jarboe Motors car dealership on Baltimore Boulevard after reports of a stolen 2017 Hyundai Sonata worth $14,000. The employee told troopers the car was missing from the lot at 9:30 a.m. and nobody had been granted permission to test drive it.
The employee then told troopers that the keys were accidentally left in the car on Wednesday and there were no tags on the car.
Troopers immediately began to canvas the area and moments later saw it pull into the Boston Inn about a mile down Baltimore Boulevard. The driver, later identified as 64-year-old James Thomas Small, said that he was taking the car for a test drive, was doing some shopping, and then was planning on returning it when he was done.
When Small was asked why the car had no tags on it he said the dealer must have forgotten to put them on.
Small was arrested for possession of a stolen vehicle, and while troopers were arresting him they noticed he also had stolen electric fire places valued at $178 in the car. Troopers discovered the fire places were stolen from the Westminster Walmart just moments earlier.
