Would-Be Car Thief Fools Locksmith, Not Police

A 24-year-old Los Angeles man learned a valuable lesson on Tuesday: Someone else's dirty car with expired registration tabs is still someone else's car. 

South Pasadena Police say Emmanuel Oliver attempted to steal a 2002 Ford F-150 from the 1600 block of Fair Oaks Avenue. Oliver believed that the car, dusty and showing an expired registration, had been abandoned, Officer Richard Lee said Thursday.

According to the crime report, Oliver called a locksmith just after 5 p.m. and asked that he re-key the car. The locksmith, paused, Lee said, and told the alleged thief that he would need proof that Oliver owned the truck. Oliver reasoned that all of his proof and identification was inside the car, and he's happily supply it, once the locksmith opened it, Lee said.

So, the locksmith got to work. 

That's when the car's owner came out of the apartment complex and asked the men what they were doing to his car. The victim opted to call police and let the officers sort it out.

Oliver was arrested on suspicion of attempted vehicle theft. 

Patch Asks: How would you have reacted if you walked into someone allegedly trying to steal your car?

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