A Minnesota man is in custody after he stole a woman’s car from a Walmart parking lot and then contacted the owner to help start the vehicle, police say.
Edward Leroy Wilson, 37, is accused of sneaking into the woman’s vehicle after she started it remotely Monday night from inside the Sartell, Minnesota, store, the St. Cloud Times reported.
The woman who owned the vehicle told police she wanted to warm up her car from inside the store because of the frigid temperatures that evening but found her car was missing by the time she went to the parking lot.
Police say Wilson drove the vehicle to a location more than an hour away from the store but had trouble restarting the car after parking it. Surveillance footage showed the suspect driving the vehicle out of the Walmart parking lot at around 8:35 p.m.
Less than two hours later, the owner got a call from a woman informing her that a man was inquiring about her vehicle.
Police say Wilson spoke with the owner, identifying himself as “Wayne Hennen,” who worked for a glass repair shop.
Officers, responding to a suspicious person complaint, identified Wilson and the vehicle while the suspect was on the phone with the owner and arrested him.
According to a criminal complaint, Wilson reportedly told officers, “he knew it was not a good idea to get the vehicle.”