A quick stop for a pack of cigarettes at a local gas station last week cost a man his pickup truck.
A 1994 Ford pickup truck belonging to a 33-year-old Orion man was reported stolen April 6 from the parking lot of Uncle Boomba’s Marathon gas station on the southwest corner of M-24 and Drahner Road in Oxford Township, according to the Oakland County Sheriff’s report.
The owner of the truck pulled into the gas station shortly before 4:20 p.m. and parked in the front parking spaces. He turned his truck off, left the keys in the middle console area and went into the gas station to purchase cigarettes, the report stated.
While the truck owner was inside, he observed the suspected thief ? a young white male wearing a black jacket with a hood and back pack ? enter his vehicle and drive off, heading south on M-24, the report stated.
Prior to the incident, the truck owner told police he noticed the suspect walking from the northeast corner of M-24 and Drahner Road to Uncle Boomba’s.
Local deputies turned the investigation over to the sheriff’s Auto Theft Unit.
Detective Jerry Schroeder said the vehicle was recovered April 10 in a parking lot adjacent to the Phoenix Center in downtown Pontiac. It was found by one of the truck owner’s employees.
The truck had ‘distinctive? markings to identify it, Schroeder said.
Although no finger prints were recovered from the vehicle, a crack pipe was found in the truck, Schroeder said. It’s believed the pipe belongs to the suspect.
The suspect is described as a clean-shaven young, white male (late teens or early 20s), approximately 6-foot tall, 160 pounds.
Anyone with information regarding the suspect or this incident is asked to contact Detective Schroeder at (248) 858-5025.