Police say man stole fire vehicle, took it on joy ride
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MOBILE, Alabama (WALA) — A man generated attention with a sarcastic performance in front of TV news cameras after police charged him with stealing a Prichard Fire Department vehicle Wednesday has a criminal record.
Surveillance video released Thursday shows a man police identified as Jeffery McCants Jr. walking around inside Central Station on Turner Road, sliding into the 2009 Crown Victoria and then slowly backing out of the station.
McCants is being held at Mobile County Metro Jail on charges of first-degree theft and first-degree burglary. It is not the first time he has been accused of stealing a vehicle. judge in Bay County, Florida, sentenced him in 2014 to three years and four months in prison for grand theft auto. In that case, authorities say McCants in 2009 stole a silver 2005 Toyota Tacoma.
That theft happened in Panama City, where McCants was born. He took the pickup truck from a marine repair business. Court records indicate that McCants repeatedly used the victim’s cell phone, which was inside the vehicle. Also inside the pickup truck were new tools valued at almost $1,600.
Mobile police arrested McCants the very next day when they spotted him driving around town.
McCants has had some other scrapes with the law. Authorities charged him with first-degree arson in 2006. That charge was dropped; it’s not clear why, and the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office had no immediate explanation.
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