SALINE CO.— It would seem that a car thief picked the wrong place to pawn off his stolen ride when he tried trade the vehicle in for a new one at a local dealer.
On Thursday, October 6, at approximately 10 a.m. local authorities received a call from Jeff Biachi, a salesman with Town and Country Ford, located at 101 Anderson Ln., Madison, Tenn.
Biachi advised that he had received a call from Jim Hayes Ford in Muddy, who told him there was a male at their facility who was driving one of Town and Country’s vehicles with dealer’s plates and that he was looking to trade it in.
Biachi told local lawmen that once the caller from Hayes described the 2017 Ford Explorer, with dealer plates, the man was driving that he looked and noticed a 2017 Ford Explorer missing from the lot.
Ex-salesman
When deputy Jerod Campbell arrived on scene he spoke with Jim Hayes and was told that a man calling himself David A. Ray came to their dealership in a 2017 Ford Explorer stating that he wanted to leave it there and purchase another vehicle.
Hayes said he didn’t think the man’s story made much sense and so he contacted Town and Country Ford in Tennessee and spoke with Biachi who informed him that the man he described was an ex-salesman but that his name was Timothy Rudinski.
The man had also claimed to be from Great Falls, Montana.
Sure enough, when deputy Campbell caught up with the man he gave the name of David Ray.
Campbell informed dude that the vehicle he was driving was reported stolen by the dealership who owned the dealer plates on the Explorer he had been driving.
When asked how he came into possession of the Explorer the man said that he had picked up the vehicle for the dealership the man claimed it had been stolen by a younger man.
The man claimed that when he realized the vehicle was in Evansville, Ind., he flew there and picked up the vehicle but after driving it a short distance realized it was running rough and simply pulled into Jim Hayes Ford in Muddy to get another vehicle.
ID doesn’t match
Campbell continued questioning the man, who continued to insist that his name was David Ray.
But when Mr. Ray told Campbell he was 55 years old and then said his birthday was October 30, 1962, making him 54 years of age, that’s about the time Campbell noticed the picture on the driver’s license didn’t look much like Mr. Ray.
Ray told Campbell that he was 67 inches tall and that’s about the time deputy Campbell informed him that he was taller than that and so Mr. Ray said the license should say 76 but the Secretary of State had gotten it wrong.
When Campbell asked why the license said he had blue eyes when Campbell was looking into a pair of brown eyes.
Mr. Ray said he had been wearing blue contacts that day at the driver’s branch.
Campbell informed the man he didn’t believe his story and ordered him to stand up and place his hands behind his back and that’s about the time Mr. Ray decided he’d take off running, that is until Campbell caught up with him and notified him he would use his TASER if he didn’t stop.
He stopped.
Wanted in Montana
A search of the Explorer produced a black suitcase and a smaller grey duffle bag.
The suitcase had attached to it a tag identified as RUDZINSKI/TIM taped to the handle.
The Tennessee dealer said their information showed the man’s name as Timothy John Rudzinski, date of birth: July 1, 1961
A check through police computers on that name and date of birth showed a Timothy J. Rudzinski, age 56, of Montana, was wanted on an arrest warrant out of Montana and had a snake tattoo on his left arm and one of a rose on his upper left arm.
When Campbell checked, the man in custody admitted his name was Timothy John Rudzinski and did indeed have the tattoos referenced in the computer check.
While being booked for Possession of a Stolen Vehicle Mr. Rudzinski was found to have in his right pocket a baggy containing a white powdery substance that tested positive for meth and so earned an additional charge of Unlawful Possession of Methamphetamine.
Cash bond in the case was set at $2,500.