TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Two people are facing grand theft charges in Tallahassee after being accused of stealing a 44-year-old car.
Mary Cyr, 31, and Gregory Durrance, 33, are facing charges of grand theft of a motor vehicle for the taking of a 1974 Chevrolet Nova.
The car's owner reported it was stolen June 19, and a witness told a Tallahassee Police Department investigator he saw the people who took it, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Another witness told investigators that later that day, he saw the two suspects at Auto Showcase, 3114 W. Tennessee St., and NAPA Auto Parts, 3112 W. Tennessee St., asking for help unlocking the car's hood.
The suspects were caught on surveillance video at Auto Showcase, where a witness saw the two in the car, court documents said. The woman was driving and man was the passenger.
Documents say the investigator sent out a description of the suspects, and on June 21, another investigator informed the first investigator of finding the stolen car.
Two possible suspects were contacted by a Leon County Sheriff's Office deputy and detained at an abandoned house in the 1700 block of Crowder Road, but documents say they didn't seem to match the picture that was issued from the video evidence.
"The quality of the pictures were somewhat distorted and difficult to make out positive identifying features," the court document said. Both suspects were released on June 22, due to officers not being able to develop probable cause.
Documents say a TPD investigator later returned to the Auto Showcase and got a witness to identify Durrance as the male suspect in a photo lineup. In another photo lineup, a witness at NAPA Auto Parts positively identified Durrance as the person who came there asking for help in unlocking the hood of the stolen car, an investigator wrote.
Durrance was arrested on Aug. 1 in connection to the theft.
When officers spoke to Durrance, he told an investigator he thought he was cleared of stealing the vehicle and told him Cyr's name and later identified her by photograph as being the other suspect.
He claimed that on the day of the theft he was standing in the woods, did as Cyr told him, and got into the car despite his suspicion that the car was stolen.
Cyr was arrested Sunday and remains in the Leon County Detention Center on a $5,000 bond. As of Monday, Durrance remains in jail on a $5,000 bond.
