Crime & Courts

Suspect ditched 1 car, stole another car at New Lenox gas station: records

Prosecutors want to put thief’s abandoned Mercedes Benz up for forfeiture

Prosecutors are seeking forfeiture of a Mercedes Benz that was abandoned by a suspect who stole a woman’s car at a gas station in New Lenox.

On June 3, Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Laurence Leszcynski filed a complaint for forfeiture of a 2009 Mercedes Benz that was used to facilitate the theft of a woman’s Hyundai Sonata at the Food N Fuel at 2560 N. Cedar Road.

The investigation of the motor vehicle theft case is “still open and ongoing,” said New Lenox Police Detective Sgt. Tim Perry.

“The Hyundai Sonata has been recovered but the offender has not been apprehended at this time,” Perry said.

On March 3, a New Lenox police officer responded to the reported theft at Food N Fuel and discovered the suspect’s Mercedes was parked at a pump, the forfeiture complaint said.

A woman had went inside the Food N Fuel and saw a man exit the Mercedes and enter her Hyundai, the complaint said. The woman “ran towards her vehicle and tried to open the door.”

“The unknown male drove off and turned south onto Cedar (Road) and then west on (Route) 6 towards I-355,” the complaint said.

Leszcynski’s complaint seeks to have the Mercedes declared forfeited so it can either be sold at a public auction, destroyed or delivered to a law enforcement agency.

The only known people who may have an interest in the Mercedes includes one person from Sherman Oaks, California, another person from Chicago’s West Roseland neighborhood, or the Be-Sure Auto Sales dealership in Chula Vista, California, according to the complaint.

The Food N Fuel had one vehicular hijacking incident occur last year, according to New Lenox police. Tyron Harris, 23, of Chicago, was arrested and charged with hijacking a man’s Land Rover Range Rover on Aug. 16 while he was pumping gas at the Food N Fuel.

Felix Sarver

Felix Sarver

Felix Sarver covers crime and courts for The Herald-News