She told Conway police her car was stolen, officers say she crashed it blocks away
A woman took the fast lane to jail after she told police her car was stolen, but officers say she wrecked it in a muddy ditch nearby.
Conway police charged Rebecca Baldessari, 22, with filing a false police report. She was booked into J. Reuben Long Detention Center on Saturday and released after posting $10,000 bond.
Officers went to Bellamy Street around 10:50 p.m. Friday for a report of a stolen vehicle. Officers got to the road before Baldessari, who arrived in an Uber car, according to a police report.
Baldessari told officers that she parked her Toyota Rav 4 in front of her home and later came outside to see it was missing, the report states. Baldessari also said she left the keys inside the unlocked SUV.
As officers left the scene, they saw a motor vehicle wreck nearby at U.S. 501 and Carolina Road that the South Carolina Highway Patrol was investigating. The vehicle in the ditch was the one Baldessari reported missing, the report states.
Officers went back to Bellamy Avenue and spoke to Baldessari, who had mud on her pant legs and cuts on her arm, according to the report.
Baldessari then told police she drove on U.S. 501, went off the road and crashed into the ditch, according to the report. She then fled the area, and a friend picked her up. She went to the friend’s house, where she called 911 to report her vehicle stolen.
Filing a false police report is publishable by up to five years in prison.
This story was originally published April 21, 2020 at 1:18 PM.
