FLORISSANT, Mo. – Rodney Elijah Lewis of Florissant has been charged with four counts of stealing motor vehicles. St. Louis County police claim Lewis was operating a tow truck without proper licensing and was involved in taking cars without authorization.
Court documents allege Lewis was working with a partner who claimed to have consent from property owners to tow the vehicles. However, police claim that Lewis and his partner went on to sell the vehicles to a salvage yard and split the proceeds.
One of the allegedly stolen vehicles was found in the parking lot of a Circle K near Interstate 70 and Lucas Hunt. Police state through court documents that the vehicle owner was working inside the gas station when their Ford Explorer was stolen by Lewis.
The other three vehicles were reportedly taken from areas near the Lucas Hunt Village apartment complex. Lewis falsely claimed to have received notification from an apartment leasing office to tow one of the vehicles, according to police.
The vehicles police allege to have been stolen include a Dodge Ram from Burrwood Drive, an Oldsmobile Bravado from Lucas and Hunt and a Chevy Trailblazer from Gladstone Place.
Authorities said they have evidence indicating Lewis’s phone was in the area of all four vehicle thefts at the time they occurred and then traveled directly from those locations to a salvage yard.
Police stated Lewis had registered his business with the state but did not possess a towing license with St. Louis County or any municipality within the county.
