An Indianapolis man faces a felony after police say he took a woman’s car after she was arrested in February and never returned it.
Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy Josh Stargell took the theft report on Upper Schooner Road on March 5. A woman reported that her daughter was arrested on a warrant after a traffic stop on Feb. 27, and that she gave Jeramy R. Beckham, 29, permission to take her 2009 Volkswagen Jetta from the stop.
The woman said Beckham had given police a false name, since he did not have a valid driver’s license.
On March 3, Beckham was instructed to bring the vehicle to a meeting place, but he left before the woman arrived. he left a note saying he would return, but he never did, the affidavit said.
She said that Beckham’s mother had contacted her and said the car was impounded after Beckham had been pulled over. Beckham walked away from that traffic stop, the affidavit states.
Stargell interviewed the car’s owner at the Brown County jail. She said she did not have the money to get her car out of impound, so she gave Beckham permission to drive the vehicle to Indianapolis, but gave him “strict orders” to return the car and the keys to her parents the next day, according to the affidavit.
Stargell was able to find the vehicle at a tow yard in Indianapolis on March 9. An employee there told him that the fee was $300 and that it would increase every day. The woman said she did not have the money to get the car out, and that Beckham should be paying for it.
On March 22, Beckham was charged with auto theft, a Level 6 felony.
