JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville man says he is thankful police found and returned his stolen car -- but not for what he discovered inside.
When Josh Driscoll picked up his stolen car at impound earlier this week, it was full of junk that didn’t belong to him, including a crack pipe.
"There was all kind of drug paraphernalia left in the car, [a] crack pipe," Driscoll said. "I mean, there's condoms in there, switchblades, drug scale."
Driscoll worried about what would have happened if he'd gotten pulled over with someone else's crack pipe in the car.
“I could be [held] responsible driving this car," Driscoll said.
Jacksonville Sheriff's Office spokesman Officer Chris Hancock said this situation is not uncommon because officers have no way of knowing what property belongs to the victim and what belongs to the car thief.
Because of that, he said officers usually just give it all to the victim.
Hancock said officers are supposed to do an inventory of items in the car and remove any illegal items, like the crack pipe. JSO failed to perform that required inventory on Driscoll's impound report.
A JSO officer stopped by Driscoll's work on Friday to remove all those items from his car.
JSO arrested Alton Armstrong on Wednesday and charged him with stealing Driscoll's car. Armstrong's arrest rap sheet dates back to the 1990s and includes drug and robbery convictions.
Driscoll said he left his car unlocked at a gas station with the keys in the cup holder when it was stolen in June. A stranger found his wallet on the side of the road and turned it in to police, but Driscoll said his checkbook is still missing.
WJAX
