Thomas Foster Smith

WARSAW — Thomas Foster Smith, 34, 3403 S. CR 550W, Mentone, is being charged with a class A misdemeanor of theft.

A man contacted the Warsaw Police Department after Smith gave him a ride from a gas station to a woman’s house near Stonehenge Golf Course. When they arrived at the residence the man wrapped his cell phone, cell phone charger and $54 in his jacket, then placed it on the dashboard, as he thought Smith would wait for him while he ran into the woman’s house, but as the man began walking up the driveway Smith drove away.

When the man and Smith were in the car they talked about where they worked. The man decided to walk to Smith’s place of employment. During his walk, a woman picked him up and gave him ride to the company.

When the man went into the company he gave a description of the driver to an employee, who showed him two driver’s license photos of two men that matched the description. One of the photos was of Smith.

The officer investigating the incident received Smith’s phone number from his file and proceeded to call him. Smith told the officer he had been in Warsaw earlier with his wife for an appointment they had at 11 a.m. The officer asked Smith if he stopped by a gas station in Warsaw and Smith replied, “No.”

When the officer asked Smith if he had picked anyone up on that day, Smith once again said, “No.” The officer asked Smith what kind of car he drove and he said a blue Impala, but when the officer asked the man who was accusing Smith of theft to describe the car, he told the officer he was unsure, but thought it was a black, four-door foreign car. He also asked the man if anyone besides Smith had been in the vehicle and the man said there hadn’t been.

The officer took the man with him to the gas station where he’d been picked up. The officer asked the gas station employee if she had seen the man today and she said she had. The officer gathered information in the form of receipts and found, with the help of Smith’s bank, that Smith had been at the gas station that day.

The officer asked for surveillance video, but the employee said it wasn’t working at the moment.

Smith is being held on a $600 cash bond.