$45,000 Lexus SUV At Center Of Fairfield/Wallingford Theft Case: PD

FAIRFIELD, CT — The two people arrested in Wallingford in connection with a stolen Lexus, took the vehicle by scamming an employee at a Fairfield dealership and drove off with the $45,000 SUV, Patch has learned.

According to Fairfield Police Lt. Michael Paris, the theft occurred at about 11 a.m. on Jan. 18 at the Fairfield location of New Country Lexus of Westport, 80 Kings Highway Cutoff.

A Technology Specialist at the dealership had pulled the vehicle, a gray 2023 Lexus NX350, into the parking lot for a customer, but she had not seen who the customer was beforehand.

"When she arrived in the lot, she saw two individuals waiting, a male and a female," reads the report Paris provided to Patch. The Tech Specialist then "asked if they were waiting for the vehicle, to which the male said yes."

The woman was later identified as Jessica Lynn Petrino, 29, and the man was Eric Woodson, 59, and after climbing into the SUV, Woodson asked the Tech Specialist how to put the vehicle in drive.

"She stated that at approximately the same time she heard her manager yelling that the customers she had been looking for were waiting in the front of the store," the report reads. At that point, she realized she had delivered the vehicle to the wrong people.

"[The Tech Specialist] said she noticed that the vehicle's key fob was still on the dashboard and that she attempted to grab it so the vehicle would not be able to operate," the report reads. "She stated that when she put her hand through the window, the male in the driver's seat pushed her arm away and put the vehicle in drive," and drove off.

Fairfield police put out an alert about the vehicle, which did not have license plates, and a description of the two, who were later found in Wallingford with the stolen Lexus.

Before the encounter at the Lexus dealership, Fairfield police learned that the two had been seen walking around the Kings Highway East and Kings Highway Cutoff areas, and according to one witness, the two "appeared to be walking strange and believed they may be under the influence of some kind of substance."

Click here to read about the arrests of Petrino and Woodson in Wallingford.