Man tells police he got stolen car from drug dealer

SYCAMORE – An Oswego man remained at the DeKalb County jail Friday after telling police he bought a stolen car from his drug dealer.

Kenny L. Austin Jr., 34, of the first block of Dolphin Court, Oswego, is charged with unlawful possession of an Illinois title document and unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle, both of which are punishable by two to seven years in prison.

Austin was stopped for a traffic violation Dec. 5 while driving a 2002 Nissan Sentra. The plates on the car were registered to a man in Elburn, and the car’s vehicle identification number was registered to a different man in Aurora, court records show.

Austin told police he traded his truck for the Nissan and had recently picked it up from a friend’s house. Austin was arrested on a warrant, but posted bond and was released from the DeKalb County jail, court records show.

The license plate on the Nissan was reported stolen Wednesday, and police followed up with the man to whom the car was registered. That man told police he had lent the car to his estranged daughter two weeks earlier and hadn’t seen it since. He did not report it stolen because he did not want to get his daughter in trouble, court records show.

Austin was taken back into the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office, where he told police he had traded his truck for the Nissan and $2,000 to a man he buys crack cocaine from in Aurora.

The dealer, whom he identified only as “Colin,” was the one who signed the car’s title to Austin, court records show. Austin told police he was too high at the time to notice if “anything was unusual.”

Austin’s bond has been set at $20,000 and he must post $2,000 bail to be released.

He is scheduled to appear in court Jan. 8.