KEY WEST, June 11, 2019 – A West Virginia man has been sentenced to Florida State Prison after failing to abide by his terms of probation for stealing a car.
On June 6, Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Mark Jones revoked the probation of Jeremy Sanger, 36, of Hilltop, West Virginia, and gave him 30 months. He had earlier pleaded no contest to grand theft of a motor vehicle. Assistant State Attorney Christine Poist represented the state.
The case stems from March 11, 2018, when Monroe County Sheriff’s Office deputies were called to a Summerland Key home about a stolen 2003 Audi. The car’s owner told police that Sanger was doing construction at his house and he allowed Sanger to stay there, and allowed him to use the Audi only to go to a nearby convenience store. But when the owner woke up from a night’s sleep on March 10, the car and his phone were gone.
A deputy called the victim’s phone and Sanger answered, saying he was in Jacksonville and that the car was in a shop with axle damage. Sanger was told to bring the car back to the Keys and he said he would the next day. The victim held off reporting the car officially stolen that day, but then filed a report on March 14 because Sanger still had the Audi and phone. The car’s information was entered into a national law enforcement database.
On March 16, 2018, the Fayette County (West Virginia) Sheriff’s Office notified the Keys Sheriff’s Office that the car was found and was sitting in a tow yard in Glen Jean, West Virginia. Three days later, a Monroe County judge issued an arrest warrant for Sanger.
Judge Jones placed Sanger on probation on November 29, 2018. But this past January, he was found to have violated probation by failing to report to his probation officer, moving from his residence without his probation officer’s permission and leaving the county in which he was living without permission.