Crime & Safety

Arrestee: I Thought They Weren't Going to Report the Car as Stolen

South Carolina woman arrested after being stopped on the Hamilton Mill exit ramp from I-85.

A South Carolina woman passing through Gwinnett County took an unexpected detour to the county jail after police discovered the vehicle she was driving had been reported stolen.

While patrolling I-85 northbound on March 22, a Gwinnett County Police officer ran the tag of a 2010 Ford Fusion. The tag return indicated the vehicle had been stolen. Officers conducted a felony traffic stop at the Hamilton Mill exit ramp from I-85 and placed the driver, identified as Evelyn Brinkman, 44, of Walhalla, S.C., in handcuffs. 

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After reading Brinkman the Miranda Warning, the officer asked if she would be willing to answer questions. Brinkman agreed.

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The officer asked Brinkman if she knew the car was stolen and Brinkman reportedly replied, "Yes, well no, I was told they were not going to report it." According to the police report, the vehicle had been rented by Brinkman's boyfriend. Brinkman explained she received a call advising that she needed to return the vehicle, but had one more week to do so. 

Upon further questioning, Brinkman admitted she had received a call from the Walhalla Police Department on March 21 advising the vehicle had been reported stolen. 

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"[Brinkman] kept saying that she needed to return the vehicle and that is why she was driving it. [Brinkman] stated she did not want to be left stranded if she stopped driving the vehicle," the officer wrote in the report.

Brinkman was booked into the jail on a charge of theft by receiving. She was released on April 2 on a $1,850 bond.

 


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