SCF Tip: Return stolen goods to a different dealer

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NORWALK, Conn. - A Bridgeport man has been arrested after he tried to trade in a Jeep to a car dealer, a month after allegedly stealing the same Jeep from that same dealer, police said.

Jazrahel King, 29, was arrested Saturday after a sales manager at Wholesalers of America recognized King's 2003 black Jeep Liberty as a vehicle that was stolen from his lot in early March.

The sales manager, Diego Coleman, said King brought the sport utility vehicle in, hoping to trade up for a larger vehicle.

"I was left speechless. I couldn't believe that he would try to take back another car and he didn't think we would recognize him," Coleman said Monday.

King had come to the dealership last month to test-drive some vehicles, Coleman said. But there was a problem with King's credit, so salesmen at the dealership scrubbed the test-drives.

Coleman said he last saw King wandering around the lot as he was preparing the Jeep for a man who had just bought it. The keys were left in the Jeep.

Then the Jeep and King disappeared, Coleman said.

When police inspected King's Jeep Saturday, they found that the key ring was the same as those issued by Wholesalers of America.

The temporary plate on the vehicle belonged to the dealership and documents found inside showed it belonged to the dealership, Sgt. Ronald Pine said.