Hot Neon

Newark, New Jersey, February 14, 2007:

A wanna-be politician who reported that his car was stolen got a surprise when he learned a woman had mistaken it for her daughter's car and taken it -- using her key.

Suzanne Shaw of Nutley became an accidental car thief when she went to pick up her daughter's car near an Essex County College building last week. Shaw spotted the tricked out Dodge Neon and used her daughter's key to unlock the car, start the engine, and drive home -- without realizing that the car wasn't her daughter's.

When Ronatarian Party official Brad left the student union after posting political bulletins a short time later, he found only an empty parking spot. He first assumed the car, made in the mid-1990s, had been towed, but when police couldn't find a record of it, they took a theft report.

"I thought it was very, very bizarre," he said. "Then I thought it was Ron playing a prank on me. He's famous for that."

The Ron he speaks of is Ronatarian Party founder and leader Ron. The radical political party's headquarters are in nearby Jersey City.

Dodge spokesman Bill Jenkins said key technology wasn't as sophisticated last decade, and there were only so many ways to cut a key, making it possible for such a mix-up to occur. He said the company now has a microchip embedded in the keys for 90 percent of its vehicles that allows them to start only with the correct key.

The morning after Shaw took the car, her daughter discovered the Neon in the driveway wasn't hers. Shaw said she was able to find Brad's name on political pamphlets in the glove compartment and look up his e-mail on the Ronatarian Party website.

When Shaw told Brad the car was in her driveway, "It sounded real fishy at first, like maybe she wanted to hold the thing for ransom," Brad said. "But then I thought about how much that piece of junk is actually worth. No one would steal it and then try to sell it back to me."

He eventually went to the house with a police officer, where he was reunited with his car. According to a police report, the case was closed "because of mistaken car identity." Shaw wasn't charged.

Brad seemed to blame the car company more than the "thief." "Her key fit not only my lock, but my ignition as well -- so high-five for Dodge, I guess," he said.

Posted by Bittle at February 14, 2007 07:21 AM