He bragged about stealing a cop car in Louisiana, feds say. It was actually the FBI’s
At 7:45 p.m. on a Sunday night, a man in Louisiana sent a message from his friend’s Facebook page: “I’m going boosting tonigh(t).”
Eight hours later, a 2010 Dodge Charger belonging to the Federal Bureau of Investigation went missing from the agency’s parking lot in Lafayette. Prosecutors said surveillance footage showed two men pull up in a white two-door coup and crouch next to the cruiser shortly before both vehicles drove off the lot.
Now a 34-year-old man is headed to prison.
A federal judge sentenced Timothy Brian King, of Lafayette to two years in prison and three years of supervised release, prosecutors in the Western District of Louisiana said Thursday in a news release.
King pleaded guilty to one count of theft of government property in July, court filings show. King, who has remained in custody pending the judge’s sentencing decision, could not be reached for comment on Thursday. A defense attorney appointed to represent him did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment.
King was charged by criminal complaint in March — less than two weeks after the FBI’s car was reportedly stolen on Feb. 22 in Lafayette, about 140 miles northwest of New Orleans.
According to an FBI agent’s affidavit filed in support of the charges, a couple of agents remembered seeing two men in a gray Toyota Highlander looking at the Dodge Charger on the Friday before it was stolen. The agents soon realized the SUV matched the description of one that was stolen around the same time.
Police found the Highlander in the possession of Shaela Presley — King’s girlfriend. She told them her boyfriend had loaned it to her, court documents state.
She was arrested and the Highlander was returned to its owner, who found a laptop and vehicle registration that belonged to the stolen FBI vehicle. Police later went to King’s house, where they saw the white two-door coup used to steal the FBI vehicle parked next door.
The officers discovered the coup belonged to King’s landlord, who had not given him permission to use it, agents said. The landlord also told them she previously had King’s car towed because she believed it was stolen.
Investigators later found a communications radio that was previously installed in the stolen FBI car at King’s house.
One witness, the man who let King use his Facebook page to send messages the night before the FBI car was stolen, told investigators he previously took King out looking for cars to steal. King reportedly talked about “heisting a Black Charger.”
Another witness said he went to King’s house on March 2. King wasn’t there — but his landlord was. Agents said the pair called King, who admitted to having his landlord’s key. At some point during the conversation, she told him the FBI wanted the Charger back.
“When I get my car back,” he reportedly said, referring to the one that was towed, “I’ll give them back their car.”
According to the affidavit, investigators found the FBI’s car the following day across from a mall.
This story was originally published October 21, 2021 at 3:55 PM with the headline "He bragged about stealing a cop car in Louisiana, feds say. It was actually the FBI’s."
