Owner detects stolen vehicle

The victim saw his car being driven around town a little more than an hour after it had been taken.

STAFF REPORT

WARREN — A man arrested on a charge of receiving stolen property for reputedly taking a car left idling from behind Caesar’s Restaurant, 2801 W. Market St., early Sunday was overheard talking to himself in the Trumbull County Jail after his arrest, saying he took the car “just to teach him [the owner] a lesson.”

Andre M. Ervin, 45, of Pine Avenue pleaded innocent Monday to the fourth-degree felony in Warren Municipal Court. He remains in Trumbull County Jail in lieu of $5,000 bond. His next hearing is at 10:15 a.m. next Tuesday before Judge Thomas Gysegem.

A 26-year-old Warren man told police he left his 1994 Mercury Grand Marquis idling and unlocked at the rear of the restaurant while he went inside to set the burglar alarm about 12:20 a.m. Sunday.

He heard someone drive off in the car and reported it to police.

About 1:41 a.m., the victim called police saying he had located his car being driven on Lener Avenue Southwest.

An officer caught up with the vehicle on Nevada Avenue Northwest and arrested Ervin there.

An officer who took Ervin to the county jail said he heard Ervin talking to himself, with Ervin saying he saw the car running and thought, “This is too easy. I wanted to go drinking, so I took that car just to teach him a lesson.”

Including the newest charges, Ervin has 23 criminal cases on file with Warren Municipal Court dating back to 2002.

If convicted on the charge, Ervin could get up to 18 months in prison.