Arrest Made After $150,000 Maserati Is Stolen During Test Drive

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BOCA RATON (CBSMiami) – Police have arrested a man they say stole a luxury car worth six figures.

According to Boca Raton Police, a 2016 Maserati Gran Turismo was stolen during a test drive from Fort Lauderdale to Boca.

The car was reported stolen on February 21st following the ill-fated test drive.

45-year-old Michael McGilvary II has been arrested and charged with grand theft.

Authorities say that McGilvary went to Ferrari-Maserati of Fort Lauderdale at 5750 N. Federal Highway and told a salesman that he wanted to test drive the $150,000 car.

After making a copy of McGilvary's driver's license, the salesman set up the test drive.

McGilvary said he wanted to drive the car to the Boca Raton Resort and Club to show it to his girlfriend.

Upon arrival in Boca Raton, McGilvary parked the Maserati near the valet stand and asked the valet to "keep the car warm," according to police.

McGilvary and the salesman went into the hotel and headed towards the outside dock, where McGilvary said he wanted to show the salesman his father's boat.

Once outside, McGilvary said he was going back inside to get his girlfriend.

After about 30 minutes, the salesman went back to the valet area where he saw that the Maserati was no longer there.

The valet that helped them told police that approximately five minutes after he saw the two men go inside the hotel, McGilvary came back out and drove off with the car.

The valet was positive in his identification as he had known McGilvary for several years.

Police caught up to McGilvary the next day after his probation officer heard from him and called police.  McGilvary reportedly told the probation officer he would speak to police at a Boca Raton Starbucks.  That's where he was arrested.  But there was still a big mystery, where was the car?

Beverly Collins is the one who found it along the 400 block of NE 20th Street.

She lives in an apartment complex near the Starbucks where police arrested McGilvary.   She read about the case in the newspaper, then noticed the pricey sports car parked right next to her; she began to put the pieces together.

"I'm thinking there' a Maserati parked right by me," Collins said. "So I thought, 'gee, there's a Starbucks right across the street.'"

She called the dealership told them the car was parked next to her's; case solved.

The pricey sports car was sent back to where it belongs.

"It all just fit," she said. "Boca Raton, the Starbucks across the street, the Maserati with all the junk in it, I don't know if it was laundry stacked in there.  It just seemed to fit."

McGilvary is now in federal custody facing a violation of probation from a federal drug case in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

He will appear before a federal judge on Thursday in West Palm Beach.