Man Calls Police to Say He is Destroying a Car

Putting matches in a vehicle's gas tank is never a good idea, but in the case of a Wayland man, it led to an arrest.

arrested Timothy Rigueiro of 43 Dudley Road Tuesday morning and charged him with malicious destruction of property over $250 after an investigation led police to believe he had attempted to burn a motor vehicle.

Sgt. Ed Walsh said Rigueiro had been arguing with his wife about the cost of repairs to the car, which is registered to the deceased father of Rigueiro's wife. Walsh said he believes that Rigueiro and his wife are separated and recently had the car towed to Rigueiro's Dudley Road home.

Walsh said that it appears that at some point Monday, the discussions about the car broke down. That night, according to Walsh, Rigueiro called police to report that he was destroying the car.

When officers arrived at the Dudley Road home, Walsh said they witnessed Rigueiro busting out the windows of the car with a maul. It appeared, Walsh said, that Rigueiro had been drinking. An investigation also led police to believe that Rigueiro had been attempting to put lighted matches in the car's gas tank.

Walsh said police initially assumed the car belonged to Rigueiro and, since there is no law against destroying a person's own vehicle, police calmed Rigueiro down and "tucked him into bed."

Police then arrested Rigueiro Tuesday morning after establishing that his name was not on the title for the vehicle. According to a police press release, Rigueiro was transported to Framingham District Court Tuesday for arraignment.