Teen took dad’s car without permission in Wisconsin, got caught in Florida, cops say

A 17-year-old driving his dad’s car without permission took things to extremes when he traveled more than 1,330 miles from Wisconsin to Florida, investigators say.

Flagler County sheriff’s deputies arrested the teen Wednesday, April 24, at a gas station in Palm Coast, after his dad reported his car and his son went missing while he was out of town, officials said. Palm Coast is about a 60-mile drive south of Jacksonville.

“Deputies determined (the teen) had stolen the vehicle from his father while he was away on business,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

“He was restricted from driving his father’s car after being stopped by local law enforcement in Green Bay, Wisconsin, a few weeks prior for driving recklessly,” according to deputies. “He had stolen the keys and left Wisconsin two or three days prior.”

The teen was arrested and charged with grand theft auto, officials said.

Investigators have not reported his intended destination in Florida.

By coincidence, he had been stopped for speeding in a Flagler County school zone the day before his arrest, but the vehicle had not yet been reported stolen, officials said. He was given a written warning for driving 31 mph in a 20 mph zone, officials said.

An 18-year-old woman from Wisconsin was found in the driver’s seat of the vehicle when it was stopped, and she was also arrested and charged with grand theft auto and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, officials said.

“A runaway in a stolen car is a recipe for disaster, but due to our team’s efforts a stolen car was safely recovered, a missing juvenile was found and arrested before anyone could get hurt, and his adult accomplice gets to spend the remainder of her Florida vacation in (jail),” Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said in the release.

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