Edgartown Police are investigating the theft of a 2002 red Chevrolet Geo Prizm from the Dark Woods town lot near the Triangle Friday night which was later found deep in the brush off Herring Creek Road, near the South Beach parking lot. The car was totaled, police said.
Edgartown Police linked the theft to the earlier theft of a 1998 green Ford Taurus from Oak Bluffs that was driven to the Dark Woods lot and left next to the spot where the Geo Prizm was parked.
Joshua Flanders, 26, of Oak Bluffs, called police around 8 pm Friday night to report his Geo Prizm had been stolen from the Dark Woods lot. He had left his car unlocked and the key in the ignition.
Mr. Flanders said that a green station wagon was parked next to the spot where his vehicle had been parked, according to the police report, and that vehicle’s driver’s-side door was open and there was a Stella beer bottle on the ground.
When police arrived, they discovered that the green Taurus owned by Aaron Tripp, 26, of Oak Bluffs had been reported stolen in Oak Bluffs. One of the car’s tires was flat.
Just before midnight Friday, police found the Geo near South Beach: “The vehicle left the roadway and traveled approximately 150 yards into the brush. The vehicle appeared to have bottomed out, breaking the back windshield and damaging the front end,” according to the police report.
Police found a Stella beer bottle on the front seat, and Mr. Tripp’s driver’s license.
Mr. Flanders told The Times he has had to borrow a car from his father to get to work, and he is unsure how much insurance will cover.
Anyone with information is asked to call Edgartown Police at 508-627-4343.