A Florida man returned to a car dealership he allegedly stole a Tesla Cybertruck from to retrieve his belongings left in the vehicle he made off with during a test drive, officials say.
Dexter Smithen went to a car dealership in Tampa on March 26 and asked to test drive a Cybertruck Cyberbeast, providing his license to the salesperson present. Smithen then signed an agreement under which he stated he would have the vehicle back after a 30-minute test drive. However, he never returned with the car.
The dealership salesperson attempted to reach out to Smithen using the phone number and email address Smithen provided, but the number was disconnected, reported Fox 13.
The dealership then used geolocation tracking to locate the vehicle on March 31, seeing that Smithen took the vehicle to a Home Depot, parked it in the parking lot and entered the store. They reported the incident to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.
Officials were able to recover the vehicle and return it to the dealership. However, at the time of recovery, the vehicle was full of Smithen's personal belongings. The following day, on April 1, Smithen returned to the dealership to retrieve his belongings and was arrested.
A deputy who searched Smithen at the dealership reported that he found five credit/bank cards with five different people's names on them on his person.
Smithen has been charged with grand theft of over $100,000 and unlawful possession of personal identification.
© 2025 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
