By Dawn Burleigh

The Orange Leader

 

A man wanting to get away from the area stole a truck and was caught when it was tracked through a GPS app to Pilot in Orange.

Orange Police Department received a call at 11:52 p.m. Monday of a suspicious vehicle at 2205 State Hwy. 62 in Orange. When an officer arrived, he activated his emergency overhead lights to get the driver’s attention. The driver proceeded to the back of the building before coming to a stop and exiting the vehicle.

The man approached the officer and identified himself as Rufus Hemenway, 45, of Michigan.

Another male approached Hemenway and the officer as they spoke.

The man told the officer the flatbed vehicle belonged to his company, Houston Barricade & Supply LLC and had been stolen from Houston at approximately 8 p.m.

He had used a GPS app to track the vehicle to the current location. He also provided a case number for the Houston Police Department (HPD).

HPD confirmed the vehicle was stolen.

Hemenway admitted to taking the vehicle because he wanted to ‘get away from the area and go to California.’

Hemenway was taken into custody for unauthorized use of a vehicle, a State Jail Felony.