Teen pleads guilty to stealing Lodi, CA police car
By News-Sentinel Staff - Lodi, CA- July 08, 2004
A teenager who posed as a body shop employee and stole a police car from a city lot last month pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges Wednesday.
Spears was released from jail June 17 after he was arraigned on one count
each of theft of an emergency vehicle, grand theft of personal property
and reckless driving.
Earlier that week, Spears took a marked patrol car from the city yard where
it was waiting to go to a body shop for repairs.
He then got into a vehicle accident, claimed he was an undercover police
officer and left the scene, according to officers.
The car was found abandoned about 40 minutes later by a Lodi officer on
patrol.
The following morning detectives used the patrol car's cell phone log to track
calls made from inside the vehicle while it was missing. Spears was arrested
June 15.
In addition to the sentence, the probation department will review the case and
determine how much restitution should be set at, according to court records.
Spears, who was ordered to surrender at a later date, could not be reached for
comment following court.