A Neighbor Drove Her To The Airport. Then He Stole Her Car, NJ Cops Say

MORRIS COUNTY, NJ — A Morris County man has been arrested after a months-long investigation into a stolen car, police said.

Derrick P. Plunkett, 48, of Budd Lake, was arrested this week following a stolen car investigation that launched in August of last year.

Police said that a woman asked her neighbor, later identified as Plunkett, to drive her to the airport in her car, to which he obliged.

When the woman returned from her trip, her car was missing. She reported it missing to the police and told them that Plunkett had been the last one to drive it, to her knowledge.

Officials tried to contact and find Plunkett but were unsuccessful.

Months later, in October, investigators found the woman’s car in a tow yard in Livingston. Further investigation led police to believe that Plunkett had been the one to take her car.

It wasn’t until this past Wednesday that the Morris County Fugitive Unit spotted Plunkett outside of a hotel in Rockaway Borough, where he was arrested.

Plunkett is charged with theft of a motor vehicle and was taken to the Morris County Correctional Facility to await court proceedings.