In the kind of situation that would make anyone think they were imagining things, Houston-area resident Beverly Havard started noticing changes to her van each time she got in: An out-of-place seat, some adjusted mirrors — you know, things that could easily feel imagined.
But she wasn’t imagining anything. Authorities arrested a man caught in her van last week, saying he repeatedly took the van while Havard and her husband slept and returned it before the end of the night.
Houston-area news station ABC 13 reports that Havard, who said she misplaced her extra key recently, started tracking the van’s mileage after she noticed the changes. The numbers changed overnight, she told the station:
“I said, ‘Somebody’s driving my car and bringing it back. I know I’m not crazy,’ Beverly said.
All the while, people in an area neighbourhood reported a chain of thefts.
ABC 13 didn’t say whether Havard contacted the authorities about the changes, but that they caught a person believed to be connected to the thefts, identified as Michael Armando Lopez, in her van. The thefts went on for several days, the station reports, but the van didn’t come back after the last one.
From ABC 13:
Deputies said when they tried to stop him, he sped off and crashed into a pole.
Now, the Harvard’s are left without a vehicle, which was specially designed for Beverly’s disabled husband, Rick.
Since Rick Havard uses a motorised wheelchair to get around and needs the specially designed van in order to get in a vehicle, Beverly Havard told ABC 13 she’s unable to take him anywhere right now.
“I had to cancel his doctor’s appointment,” she told the station. “I hope he’s satisfied that he took advantage of an elderly person that’s very sick and that can’t be transported to go anywhere.”
[H/t Autoblog]