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Police: Internet date ended in car theft
PALM COAST, Fla., (UPI) -- Police in Florida said a man who took a car and debit card from a woman he met on the Internet used cash from his date's bank account to buy crack cocaine.
The Volusia County Sheriff's Office said the woman drove to the James Lopez's Palm Coast home Tuesday to meet in person after they became acquainted via the Internet and after spending the day together, the couple rented a room at a Super 8 hotel on U.S. Highway 1, the Orlando Sentinel reported Friday.
Investigators said Lopez told the woman he was leaving the hotel for a short time to see about his own car, which he told her had been involved in an accident, and asked for her debit card so he could pay to have his vehicle towed and buy food for the woman's 3-year-old daughter.
However, the woman said she fell asleep and awoke at 6:30 a.m. to find Lopez had not returned. She said he answered his phone at about 7:30 a.m. and said he was about five minutes away, and the woman called the sheriff's office when he failed to return by 11 a.m., investigators said.
A sheriff's office affidavit said a deputy spotted Lopez driving the woman's car at about 1 p.m. and followed him to a truck stop, where Lopez allegedly tried to hide from the deputy and fled when ordered to halt.
The affidavit said Lopez was stunned twice and taken into custody. The deputy said Lopez told him he used money from the woman's bank account to buy crack cocaine, which he smoked earlier in the day.
The woman's debit card was not recovered, investigators said.
PALM COAST, Fla., (UPI) -- Police in Florida said a man who took a car and debit card from a woman he met on the Internet used cash from his date's bank account to buy crack cocaine.
The Volusia County Sheriff's Office said the woman drove to the James Lopez's Palm Coast home Tuesday to meet in person after they became acquainted via the Internet and after spending the day together, the couple rented a room at a Super 8 hotel on U.S. Highway 1, the Orlando Sentinel reported Friday.
Investigators said Lopez told the woman he was leaving the hotel for a short time to see about his own car, which he told her had been involved in an accident, and asked for her debit card so he could pay to have his vehicle towed and buy food for the woman's 3-year-old daughter.
However, the woman said she fell asleep and awoke at 6:30 a.m. to find Lopez had not returned. She said he answered his phone at about 7:30 a.m. and said he was about five minutes away, and the woman called the sheriff's office when he failed to return by 11 a.m., investigators said.
A sheriff's office affidavit said a deputy spotted Lopez driving the woman's car at about 1 p.m. and followed him to a truck stop, where Lopez allegedly tried to hide from the deputy and fled when ordered to halt.
The affidavit said Lopez was stunned twice and taken into custody. The deputy said Lopez told him he used money from the woman's bank account to buy crack cocaine, which he smoked earlier in the day.
The woman's debit card was not recovered, investigators said.
