Stolen car returned to Good Samaritan

Saturday, December 12, 2009

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Police found Danielle Lengen's stolen car and returned it to her.

POLK COUNTY (Bay News 9) -- A Haines City mother got an early Christmas present: she got her stolen car back and police arrested the carjackers who took it.

On Dec. 1 Danielle Lengen was returning with her 4-year-old son from Christmas shopping when she saw a person lying in the middle of the intersection of 5th Street SE and Avenue E SE in Winter Haven.

"I wasn't going to stop, but I ended up stopping and I asked him if he's alright," Lengen said. "When he looked up at me I saw that he had a ski mask on."

Lengen says another person with a ski mask and a gun came out of the bushes behind her and demanded money. Both suspects ended up taking the cash, the car and everything inside, including her son's Christmas gifts.

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About a week later a Crime Stoppers tip led police to The Villas at Lake Smart apartments. Soon afterward, investigators found both suspects.

Winter Haven police arrested two 17-year-old suspects who they say admitted to the robbery.

Lengen has the car back but nothing else.

"Nothing. I mean they even took my owners manual out of the glove box," she said.

But she says she's okay with that because of what she didn't lose.

The two suspects police arrested are facing serious charges. Because the two suspects are juveniles, Bay News 9 is not naming them in accordance with our Crime Guidelines.