JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville couple is without a set of wheels after their car was stolen last September.
But at this point, it’s not the thieves who won’t give it back. It’s the authorities.
Diane Anglin went to her car on September 8th of last year, only to find it was nowhere to be seen.
“I’m like, I parked it right there! It’s not there!” said Anglin.
She reported the vehicle, a 2012 Mercedes 350 SUV, stolen and got a copy of the report from JSO.
Fast forward to March 9th, and JSO contacted her and informed her the car had been found.
Officers returned several personal items from inside the car but couldn’t return the car itself or her fiancé’s wheelchair that had been left in it.
Englin said officers told her they were both being held as evidence in a homicide case.
“He said your car was involved in a homicide,” said Anglin.
Now, 78 days after her car was found, Anglin still doesn’t have the car or her fiancé’s wheelchair.
She said she even lost her job because she couldn’t get to and from work.
Anglin said she’s called JSO at least ten times since March, trying to get answers as to when she might get her car back, but she’s gotten nowhere.
“I’ll look into that. That’s it. And I never heard anything back, and I called them yesterday. Still didn’t call me back,” said Anglin.
We reached out to JSO and asked why the release has taken so long.
“Unfortunately, items in the vehicle that potentially hold evidentiary value must be maintained throughout the investigative and criminal process,” a JSO spokesperson told us in an emailed statement. ”We are working with our partners at the SAO in a resolution to the release of the wheelchair at this time.”
Criminal defense attorney Chris Carson explained, while unfortunate, JSO and the State Attorney’s Office aren’t doing anything wrong.
He noted the car and the wheelchair have likely become a critical piece of evidence in the homicide case, and there’s no set timeframe in which it must legally be returned.
“They need to kind of balance the individual’s rights to their property with what needs to happen for our community at-large,” said Carson.
After hearing from Action News Jax, JSO said its Victim Services unit will be reaching out to Anglin to help her fiancé get a new wheelchair.
In response to that news, Anglin said they’ve already had to buy a new wheelchair, and she just wants her car back.
“Why don’t you get in my car, drive it to where I live and leave it there and I’ll be happy,” said Anglin.
Carson said it’s possible Anglin could file a claim with her insurance and get some form of compensation for her vehicle.
She might also qualify for compensation under the Crime Compensation Trust Fund, but Carson explained payments through that fund aren’t usually doled out until a case concludes with a guilty verdict.
And there’s no telling how long that might be in this case.
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