In This Love Story Turned Sour, Don’t Call Her Sugar

A West Des Moines woman on Monday accused her on-again, off-again boyfriend, a car salesman, of putting sugar in the gas tank of an SUV she bought from another seller.

According to a report on file with the , the 2003 Jeep Liberty the woman bought a few weeks ago was performing well until last Friday, when she drove it to her job in Ankeny.

It was loud – “louder than normal,” according to the police report. The Jeep was still running on Monday, but poorly. As she backed a parking spot after visiting a chiropractor, it suddenly died, she said. She was able to get the vehicle started again, but told police it was “vibrating at a noticeable rate.”

The vehicle finally sputtered to a stop as she was traveling along busy University Avenue in Windsor Heights Monday afternoon.

She had it towed to a mechanic friend’s house and he told her someone had put sugar in her gas tank and the vehicle’s engine was probably damaged beyond repair. The victim estimated her loss at $6,000.

The victim told police that her sometimes boyfriend, the father of her child, “had been upset that she was buying a vehicle from a private party instead of from the company he works for.”

She also said that he had asked her to take him to court Monday to answer an unrelated charge. She told police that “in his mind, if he had been with her when the vehicle failed, it would make it appear less likely that he had any involvement in the matter,” according to the report.

No charges have been filed.