By GABRIEL MARGASAK
gabriel.margasak@scripps.com
August 5, 2006
PALM CITY — A bus ticket would have been cheaper.
A New York man was being held at the Martin County jail on $10,000 bail Friday after allegedly stealing a tractor-trailer car carrier — with 9 vehicles on board — just for a ride up north.
The owner of Connecticut Auto Transport in Palm City told authorities Victor Lewis, 46, of Mount Vernon, was his driver and was supposed to take the tractor-trailer worth more than $100,000 to New York state by May 23.
When Lewis didn't show up in New York, business owner Pete Naylor called the Martin County Sheriff's Office. The truck and vehicles were entered into law enforcement databases as being stolen.
Naylor also noticed the gas card he had given Lewis was used to buy more fuel than the truck could have carried. He speculated the fuel was sold for cash, though there was no evidence of that in the court paperwork released Friday.
On May 28, Naylor received a call from Lewis stating he wasn't taking the truck to New York. He said Naylor could find the vehicles at a location in New Jersey, according to a sheriff's report.
Naylor had another one of his drivers go to that location, which wasn't specified, and there was the truck and all the vehicles.
Lewis was actually arrested in Mobile, Ala., on June 6, though the circumstances were not immediately available. He was finally extradited to Martin County on Friday.
Lewis was charged with first degree grand theft in the Palm City case. For the record, a one-way Greyhound bus ticket from the Treasure Coast to New York City costs about $157.50.