Man Steals Car During Test Drive, Flees to Motel 6

SAN ANGELO, TX - Yesterday, San Angelo Police were dispatched to KC Auto Sales located at 3217 N. Chadbourne at 12:30 p.m. for a report of a stolen vehicle. Officers learned from staff there that they allowed a man to test-drive a 2008 Chevrolet Malibu around 9:30 a.m., but the man never returned. The man, who was recorded on video surveillance, used fictitious identification to initiate the test-drive. 

Later in the shift, San Angelo police spotted the stolen vehicle traveling east on Caddo and initiated a traffic stop; but the driver, later identified as 27-year-old Arsenio Jerome Carter, pulled into the Motel 6 parking lot located at 311 N. Bryant Blvd., exited the car and fled into one of the rooms. Carter was located and charged with Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle and Evading Arrest Detention. 

Carter was the same man captured on the dealership’s surveillance footage. He was arrested of Unauthorized Use of the Motor Vehicle and Evading Arrest/Detention. As of Tuesday afternoon, he remains in jail on a $500 bond.

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Above: 44-year-old Michael Joe Trammell. (TGCJ)

In an unrelated case, San Angelo police were dispatched to Trammell Welding, 820 N. Buchanan Street just before 1:00 p.m. for the report of a stolen 2001 Dodge Dakota. Officers arrived and learned the possible suspect, 44-year-old Michael Joe Trammell, cut a lock to the property and used a forklift to gain access to the vehicle. 

Later in the shift, a San Angelo police officer was en route to another call when he noticed a vehicle parked in the 2200 block of Glenwood Street that matched the description of Trammel Welding’s missing pickup. He requested another officer to follow up with the vehicle. That officer located the stolen vehicle and Trammell.

Trammell was booked into jail where he remains with a $7,500 bond for his release.