Test Driver Didn't Return Car To Manahawkin Dealership: Police

MANAHAWKIN, NJ — A Barnegat man was charged after he took a car on a test drive out of a Manahawkin dealership and didn't return it, Stafford police said.

Jason DeAngelo, 47, was charged with third degree unlawful taking of means of conveyance in Stafford and second degree eluding out of Tuckerton for not stopping for police, police said.

DeAngelo had taken the 2023 white GMC Sierra for a test drive at 11 a.m. on Feb. 18, but police received a call from the Barlow GMC at about 8:15 p.m. that the car had never been returned.

Tuckerton police saw the car a short time later on Route 539 and tried to stop it, police said. DeAngelo did not stop and drove south on the Parkway, and Tuckerton police did not pursue it any further, Stafford police said.

Stafford police's DEU was able to locate DeAngelo and the car in Atlantic City near the Tropicana Casino, police said.

The DEU found the car unoccupied in the Tropicana's parking garage unoccupied, police said. They then contacted the New Jersey State Police Casino Operations Unit to help find DeAngelo in the Tropicana.

Through coordination with security at the Tropicana Casino, the DEU and the New Jersey State Police Casino Unit DeAngelo was found in the Tropicana and arrested without incident, police said.

He was taken to the Stafford Township Police Department for processing and lodged in Ocean County Jail pending a future court appearance.