Tesla store reclaims Cybertruck after 5-day ‘test drive'

Yahoo

17-04-2025

A Florida man is accused of absconding with a Tesla Cybertruck during what was supposed to be a 30-minute test drive.
But a Tesla salesperson turned the tables on the suspect, finding the truck five days later with geolocation technology and driving it back to the store. The man was arrested when he returned to the store in search of items he had left in the truck, Fox 13 Tampa Bay reported.
Dexter Smithen was charged with grand theft of more than $100,000, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.
Smithen, 51, went to a Tesla store in Tampa on March 26 and asked to test drive a Cyberbeast, the six-figure, top-end version of the Cybertruck pickup. He signed an agreement to return within half an hour and gave the store a driver's license with his photo on it, police told Fox 13.
When he failed to return, the store tried calling and emailing Smithen, but the phone number was disconnected.
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A salesperson told deputies he was able to geolocate the truck March 31 and found Smithen driving it to a Home Depot. The salesperson took video of Smithen and waited for him to enter the building, then drove the truck back to the Tesla store and called the sheriff's department.
The next afternoon, Smithen went back to the Tesla store, where he was arrested. He reportedly told deputies that he was trying to recover items he had left in the Cybertruck when the store repossessed it.
The arresting officers said they found Smithen carrying credit cards and driver's licenses in the names of five different people.
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