The thief was his own worst enemy…
Ah, car thieves, the modern equivalent of horse thieves and Wile E. Coyote. This was clearly illustrated on October 6 when Flagler County Sheriff’s Office deputies recovered a stolen BMW M5 all thanks to the actions of the accused thief. Now 23-year-old Hosea Hampton is sitting in jail and the car will be going to the rightful owner.
Learn how a thief accidentally returned a stolen vehicle here.
It all started when deputies noted the BMW M5 was cruising at 65 mph in a 45-mph zone. Why thieves think speeding in a stolen car is a good idea is beyond us – maybe once they’ve broken a big law they figure all the little ones go out of the window?
At least Hosea didn’t try testing the performance chops of the M5 against the cops, because we think he would’ve come up short. After all, deputies noticed the distinct fragrance of pot in the Bimmer when they approached, and it’s not exactly known as a performance-enhancing drug.
Deputies also notice Hosea and his passenger in the front seat seemed really nervous. Then Hosea told deputies his name is Braxton Hampton, which totally doesn’t sound made up or anything. After getting him out of the car, deputies found 14.4 grams of marijuana on the guy and he didn’t have a medical marijuana card, so he was out of luck.
Maybe realizing the good times were over, when questioned about weapons, Hosea admitted there was a firearm sitting on the backseat, which is totally the best way to store one while driving down the road. Realizing there was probably more going on, deputies ran the VIN plate under the windshield, but it came back clean. Smartly, they ran the doorjamb tag, which was a different VIN, and the Bimmer came back as stolen out of Wilmington, North Carolina.
It turns out the BMW M5 just walked off from a BMW dealership back on August 19th by swapping the key during a test drive, proving that not all these stolen cars are chopped or shipped out of the country. It’s not clear if Hampton stole the car or bought it off someone who did, but the man is a convicted felon with a record dating back to August 2017. Considering he’s only 23, that’s not great.
Check out the badge cam video of the arrest we’ve included.
Source: Ask Flagler
