Sheriff’s office recovers stolen police car

By JASON WERMERS
Item Staff Writer
jwermers@theitem.com

A 19-year-old Lynchburg man stole a Sumter police car and used it for parts, authorities said.

Raymond Tate, of 920 Trinity Road, was charged Saturday by police with grand larceny auto, and on Monday by the sheriff’s office with running a chop shop. Both are felony offenses. Bond was set at $10,000 surety by Magistrate Judge George R. Gibson.

The police vehicle, a Ford Crown Victoria, was stolen from the city of Sumter Vehicle Services repair shop, 70 Myrtle Beach Highway, between early April 1 and Friday, said Lt. David Florence of the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office in a news release.

Tate took the vehicle to a wooded area off John Cain Road in Lynchburg. He stripped the car of its parts so he could put them on his own vehicle, Florence said.

On Friday, sheriff’s deputies were notified that the vehicle had been abandoned there, Police Chief Patty Patterson said.

Sumter police detectives responded to that area and found that several parts of the vehicle, including the wheels, trunk and quarter panels, had been removed to replace parts on a similar vehicle.

At 1 a.m. Saturday, police detectives made contact with Tate. During that questioning session, Tate implicated himself in the theft of the police vehicle. His own personal vehicle is a 1999 Ford Crown Victoria, and it had several parts from the stolen police car, Patterson said.

Some of the police car’s parts were recovered, but the front grill, blue lights and police radio are still missing. The vehicle and its contents were valued at $9,400.

Patterson said the police car was not being actively used. She added that Tate had climbed the fence around the city repair shop to steal the vehicle.

The sheriff’s office recovered the police car during the weekend and Tate was charged on Monday.



Contact Staff Writer Jason Wermers at jwermers@theitem.com or (803) 774-1295.