Woman Charged For Stealing Her Own Vehicle From Auto Shop
SQUIRREL HILL (KDKA) -- A woman is facing theft charges after she retrieved her vehicle from a Squirrel Hill auto shop after hours without paying for the repairs.
The manager of Lifetime Automotive on Forward Avenue contacted police on Friday around 7:45 p.m. to report that a vehicle had been stolen.
According to a criminal complaint, the manager told police when he returned to the shop around 7 p.m. to get something he had forgotten, he saw someone driving a vehicle the shop had been servicing out of the lot. He was unable to provide a description of the driver, and the cameras on the lot were not recording.
The manager told police he still had the original set of keys for the vehicle in the shop.
The criminal complaint says the vehicle, which belongs to Mary Dulya, had been in the shop since April 3. The manager told police he called Dulya on Friday evening to say her vehicle was running again and in order for them to continue repairs, Dulya would need to make a down payment on her bill, which was close to $1,100.
According to the manager, Dulya said she would come to the shop first thing Saturday morning.
Police say an officer drove to Dulya's house to investigate and saw the vehicle parked on the street in front of her house. No one at the house responded when the officer attempted to make contact.
The criminal complaint says Dulya called police Tuesday and told an officer her vehicle had been at Lifetime Automotive for three months, and she wanted to do a test drive of her vehicle before making a down payment because of past issues with the mechanic at the shop. She told the officer the mechanic would not allow her to test drive her vehicle, which is why she retrieved it after hours on Friday.
Dulya told an officer she tried to call Lifetime Automotive after she took her vehicle Friday night, but the staff refused to speak to her.
Dulya is facing one count of theft of services.
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