LAKE CITY, Fla. – A man who stole the rims and tires off a vehicle in the Xtreme Truck Sales lot earlier this month -- and left a derogatory note on the victim’s truck -- has been arrested, police said Thursday.
Police tracked down Paul H. Baker Jr., 29, with the help of surveillance footage, officers with the Lake City Police Department said.
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Baker first denied that the footage showed him or his vehicle, and he also claimed he never wrote the note, police said. But later, he confessed to the theft, officers said.
About 8:35 a.m. Sept. 5, police arrived at Xtreme Truck Sales on West U.S. 90 to investigate a theft that had taken place the night before, officers said.
Baker had stolen two rims and two tires, worth a total of about $3,000, from one of the trucks, and put them on his own vehicle, according to police. He then left the note and took off.
Police reviewed the footage and spoke with the staff at Xtreme Truck Sales, then came up with a suspect truck description and a potential tag number. An investigator from Lake City police tracked the vehicle to the city of Jasper and confirmed it was Baker who owned the truck, officers said.
After Baker’s confession, he was arrested on a grand theft charge, and booked at the Columbia County Jail. He has since been released on $20,000 bond, police said.