Car salesman takes car off lot and doesn't come back

An employee of Hall Chevrolet decided to take a road trip out East, but he allegedly used one of the dealership’s vehicles without permission.

The car’s On Star system tracked the vehicle and the driver, 35-year-old John Sargent of Milwaukee, far from Wauwatosa on July 21. The car was traveling through New York, and the driver was eventually stopped the next day in Milton, Pa., where he was charged with receiving stolen property.

Sargent told the trooper he had gone to New York to visit his sister in the hospital, and that his employer did not know he had taken the vehicle, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Pennsylvania State Police.

According to a Wauwatosa police report:

Another salesman had sold the 2009 Chevrolet Malibu and had gone out onto the lot, 11011 W. North Ave., to retrieve it July 14. But he found it was missing. A second set of keys that had been kept in a locked box was missing.

Dealership executives learned the identity of the driver when the trooper called the local police. Sargent had been hired in January, but left due to personal problems, then rejoined the dealership as a salesman in June. He hadn’t shown up for work in a week.

Company policy prohibits employees from driving company vehicles outside Wisconsin. Sargent had been using a license plate assigned to another salesman.