Gainesville Police arrested the owner of a local towing company Friday afternoon after he helped cover up a scooter theft committed a year ago at Canopy Apartments.
Officers arrested 48-year-old Stanley Hubert Forron, the owner of Advantage Towing, on charges of grand theft and tampering with evidence, said GPD towing and vehicle-for-hire coordinator Officer Jeff McAdams.
In March 2013, Bonnalyn Beth Lachut, 67, stole two scooters from the parking lot of the apartment complex, located at 4400 SW 20th Ave., McAdams said. When the owners reported the scooters stolen, Lachut reached out to Forron for help.
Forron sent employees to her house to pick up the scooters and drive them back to the complex. They then unloaded the scooters and posed them as if they were parked illegally, McAdams said.
After taking pictures of the scooters, the employees reloaded them in the truck and took them to the tow yard, where they contacted law enforcement to report they were abandoned.
“In our opinion, this was a deliberate attempt to avoid being detected,” McAdams said.
Officers booked Forron into the Alachua County Jail at about 2 p.m. Friday. He was released about three hours later after meeting a $20,000 bond.
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 4/7/2014 under the headline "Advantage Towing owner arrested for scooter theft"]
