A man suspected of swiping a $135,000 Mercedes-Benz from a display platform at a dealership in North Austin was arrested Friday after being followed to a strip club by dealership employees, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.



Austin Police Department AMERICAN-STATESMAN file photo/Jessalyn Tamez

Mark Ricketts, 46, faces a felony theft charge, the document said.



The affidavit said police were called out around 7:30 p.m. to The Yellow Rose, on 6528 N. Lamar Blvd., after receiving a report from a man who said he found a car that had been stolen from his dealership.

Police arrived shortly after and found the vehicle, a yellow Mercedes-Benz AMG GT valued at $135,860, parked at a Shell station just down the street, the affidavit said.

According to the report, employees heard the car start up around 6:30 p.m., then watched as the vehicle drove off of the platform away from the dealership.

About 20 minutes later, a cab driver spotted the car at the Shell station.

The cab driver told police he found it odd that the man inside, later identified as Ricketts, was smoking inside the “high-end luxury car.”

“(The cab driver) observed the male inside the AMG GT ‘pitching a fit’ and spasming in the driver’s side seat,” the affidavit said. “Suddenly the male exited the AMG GT. The male told (the cab driver) that ‘he tried to blow up the car’ and that he just broke the turn signal levers off.”

Ricketts then told the cab driver he could have the AMG GT and stormed off, the document said.



Shortly after, the cab driver drove over the dealership and told employees about the car. They called Austin police and followed the suspect over to the Yellow Rose, where he was taken into custody, the affidavit said.



]]