Owner Drives Off With Alleged Car Thief Inside
MIAMI BEACH - (CBSMiami.com) - Car thieving can be a tiresome job -- at least it was for one man who passed out in the car, police say, he attempted to steal.
Miami Beach police say 19-year-old Joe Jesus German walked into the main valet parking garage at the posh Fontainebleau Hotel, 4441 Collins Ave. at 3:30 a.m. Sunday. He found several unlocked cars and allegedly stole items. German, police say, eventually found the car keys under the driver's seat of a white, Infinity G35.
That's when police say he nestled in the backseat and "passed out."
"So I put my hands on my uncle's shoulder and I was like, Uncle, don't look back, but there's someone in the backseat of our car. I'm laughing now but I was very serious! I was scared," said Alan Rodriguez, the man who first spotted German.
Rodriguez was giving his uncle a tour of Miami Beach and ended up the Fountainbleau Hotel. After a few hours there, they got back into the car and drove off. They found him a few minutes later in the backseat.
"I thought he was hiding at first," said Rodriguez in an exclusive interview with CBS4's Gio Benitez.
Rodriguez said he accidentally left his doors unlocked.
Police say surveillance cameras inside the hotel's garage may have captured the crimes.
Police arrested German on five counts of burglary. A bond court judge allowed him to be released as long as he meets pre-trial conditions.
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