Hours after a car thief drove off with a $200,000 sports car left running by a restaurant valet, officers arrested a suspect and recovered the vehicle, police said Wednesday.
Dylan Coffey, 20, was arrested Tuesday afternoon on suspicion of burglary after he broke into an Arleta house while fleeing from officers. Detectives were piecing together evidence that he also stole the car, according to a Los Angeles Police Department statement.
Around lunch time on Tuesday, a man got into a Mercedes-Benz SLS parked outside of the Feed Body and Soul restaurant in Venice Beach (map). A valet left the luxury roadster running for the owner - DeAnna Staats, who owns the restaurant.
LAPD Detective Lt. Paul Vernon said Coffey apparently left behind a bicycle at the Venice Beach restaurant.
The car was immediately reported stolen, and police tracked it using an OnStar system to the Van Nuys area. About 3 p.m., they found it in Arleta, near a Veterans of Foreign Wars hall at Crowley and Astoria streets.
Officers staked out the empty car, then saw Coffey come near it, according to an LAPD statement.
“Something spooked him and he went into the VFW hall where detectives entered,” Lt. Vernon said. Coffey ran out of the hall and jumped a fence, fleeing into a residential area, according to the statement.
Coffey went into a home that wasn't his and dressed in the homeowner's clothes, then hid beneath a woodpile, according to the statement.
Officers arrested Coffey and safely recovered the Mercedes.
"The owner was happy to hear her car was found, none the worse for wear," Vernon said, "and we promised her we wouldn’t dirty the interior with print dust."
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