Double Trouble: He Lost His Girlfriend's Car to Woman He Picked Up

At 9 p.m. Wednesday, a Milwaukee man came to the Wauwatosa Police Station to report that his girlfriend’s car had been stolen from the parking lot of the Sentry store at 6700 W. State St. between 8:20 and 8:30 p.m.

The man first told officers he had parked the car and gone inside to pay a utility bill and had left the car, a silver 2002 Acura MDX, unlocked with the engine running. He told officers he thought it would be safe for just a few minutes.

Most people would not consider it safe or prudent to leave a car running, unlocked and unattended, for any length of time in a busy parking lot. But as will be seen, the car was not unattended after all.

Police asked the man to follow them to the Sentry store and show them where he had parked, to see if there was any evidence left behind. When they arrived, the man announced that there was “another twist” to the story.

He said he had stopped at a convenience store in the area of North 92nd Street and Appleton Avenue and struck up a conversation with a woman he did not know. He agreed to give her a ride to North 35th Street and Villard Avenue, but told her he needed to pay his utility bill first.

They went to his residence on South 64th Street to pick up the bill, he said, then went to the Sentry store. He went inside to pay the bill, leaving the woman in the car with the engine running. When he returned, the woman was gone, and so was the car.

He said he did not call police immediately because it was his girlfriend’s car and he was in a state of shock over what to do. He gave a description of the woman but could not recall her name, although he thought it began with a “T.”

So, armed with a description that would fit hundreds, if not thousands, of women in the Milwaukee area, the police were looking for the car thief.

And the victim was left wondering how he would explain to his girlfriend that he lost her car to a woman he had picked up at a convenience store.