Newport Man Arrested after Reporting Grandmother's Car Stolen

NEWPORT, RI—A 22-year-old Newport man who reported his grandmother’s car stolen ended up getting arrested after detectives thought his story was fishy.

Now, David Diaz, of 137 Third St., Newport, is facing a charge of falsely reporting a crime—a misdemeanor—after persistent Newport detectives thought the stolen car story didn’t pass the smell test.

According to a police report, Diaz reported to police that someone stole his grandmother’s car on Sunday. He said the car was in the parking lot at Bayside Village sometime between 5 a.m. and 3 p.m.

The officers who took the report thought there were holes in his story and after police told him he needed to be truthful to clarify a few things, he admitted that his car was at Saccucci Honda on West Main Road in Middletown “but he did not know how it got there,” according to the report.

Police said the car had notable damage and Diaz told them that he drove to Providence the night before through Fall River and “fell asleep at the wheel” on the Braga Bridge in Fall River and hit the center divider.

Police, however, were aware of a single-car crash on the Jamestown bridge and and asked if he had been on either that bridge or the Claiborne Pell Bridge in Newport that night. He denied being on either bridge.

Police noted in the report that they told Diaz that there are cameras on the bridges and they could see if he was there or not.

By this time, Diaz said that the car was likely towed from Bayside Village because of a lack of a parking sicker, but police told him that towed vehicles would normally be brought to a tow yard, not a dealership with its license plates removed and the interior cleaned out like his Honda.

The grandmother eventually admitted to police that she had the car towed after observing damage that indicated the car was involved in a sideswipe-type crash.

Diaz then said he wanted to withdraw his stolen vehicle complaint.

But police obtained a warrant and Diaz was arrested without incident on Tuesday. He was later released on $2,000 personal recognizance and is due to appear in Newport County District Court on March 2.