Lake Forest Couple Stunned When Valet Gives Car Away to Impostor

A Lake Forest couple paid a steep price for valet parking Saturday night at Joe’s Crab Shack in Newport Beach: their car.

Josh Gelle left his 2014 Mazda CX-9 with a LAZ Parking valet, and that was the last he would see of it. When it came time to collect it, his car was already gone.

“We gave them the ticket and the $5 and walked away thinking they are going to go get our car,” Gelle told KCAL 9. “A couple minutes later the valet came up to us and said, ‘We don’t know how to tell you this, but we gave your car away.

“Our first reaction was ‘OK, where’s the hidden camera,” Gelle recalled. “You know, we were looking around thinking this is a joke, right? You’re kidding.’”

But it was a man with an Ohio State tattoo who got the last laugh. A valet told Gelle the tattooed man had come earlier, claiming the car was his but that he had lost the ticket. So the valet gave him the keys.

Gelle’s girlfriend Joe Abadie was stunned. In a cell phone video she shared with KCAL 9, she grilled the parking attendant who told her the valet to blame had already gone home.

“It seemed odd that they sent home the one guy who was responsible for giving the keys away and that they didn’t hold him there until the police got there,” she told a reporter.

The Newport Beach Police department is investigating the incident, department spokeswoman Jennifer Manzella told Patch. An officer has been interviewing witnesses and valet staff, she said.

For his part, Gelle just wants his car back.

“I just want to be made whole,” he said. “You know. I didn’t do anything wrong here. They gave the car away.”

Photo Credit: KCAL 9 screen grab

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