A 40-year-old Fenton man was arrested after he allegedly stole a car from outside Prestige Pet Grooming in Eureka and crashed it five days later in Fenton. The victim, a 51-year-old Pacific woman, told police she had left the keys in the car, Eureka Police reported.
The woman told police her 2009 Ford Fusion was stolen from outside the business, 1329 W. Fifth St., between about 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. July 29. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office found the Fusion at about 3:40 p.m. Aug. 3 after it was involved in a two-vehicle accident on Hwy. 30 near Valley Dell Drive in unincorporated Fenton, authorities reported.
The Fusion, which was valued at about $3,000, was totaled, and no information was available about the other vehicle involved in the accident. No injuries were reported, the Sheriff’s Office reported.
The Fenton man allegedly was seen getting out of the Fusion and walking away from the accident toward Bowles Avenue in the Fenton area. A Eureka Police officer who was responding to the accident saw the man walking near Bowles Avenue and stopped to ask him if he was involved in the collision, authorities reported.
The man, who was wearing a gray shirt and hat and carrying a blue duffle bag like the one shown in a photo of the accident, told the Eureka officer he was walking from a friend’s house to the laundromat. However, the officer identified him from the photo and detained the man for a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper who also was investigating the accident, the report said.
The trooper arrested the man for allegedly leaving the scene of an accident, and the suspect was taken to the Eureka Police Station for booking and questioning. A Eureka Police officer asked the man about the Fusion and showed the man a picture from the accident that allegedly showed the suspect leaving the Ford, according to the report.
The man reportedly told the officer he didn’t know anything about the car in the picture. He also allegedly said, “I am not a little kid. I have been around the block a few times,” and then told the officer if he had any more questions he could talk to his attorney, Eureka Police reported.
The man was released pending application for warrants. Eureka Police will seek a stealing charge against the man through the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Lt. Michael Werges said.