MUNCIE, Ind. — Police claim a Muncie woman didn’t know what the big deal was about stealing a Kia from a car dealership in order to allow her to drive to Indianapolis for a job interview to be an exotic dancer.
According to court documents, 20-year-old Kasia Shelton “acted like this whole thing was a joke” and “did not understand what she was going to be arrested for” after police tracked her down and questioned her about the stolen car.
Police learned of the theft of the 2013 Kia Optima on Monday after an employee at RDI Motors in Muncie called the Muncie Police Department to report that a car was just stolen from the lot.
The employee told officers that Shelton came to the dealership and asked to look at the 2013 Kia Optima. The employee had been preparing the car for a test drive but said the phone kept ringing (and that no one was ever on the other end of the line when he answered). The employee reportedly told Shelton to wait a moment while he answered the phone yet again, but Shelton allegedly drove off in the Kia.
According to the documents, police used the Flock camera system to track the stolen car and spotted it on cameras going south toward Indianapolis and then later returning to Muncie. Police connected Shelton to the car theft because she reportedly filled out a form on the dealership’s website to buy another vehicle prior to stealing the Kia.
Officers went to Shelton’s home where she initially lied to officers about her identity, according to police.
Court documents reveal that Shelton admitted to stealing the car, however, after police informed her that they knew who she was and what she had done.
Shelton reportedly told police she stole the Kia in order to drive to Indianapolis for an exotic dancer job interview. She didn’t understand what the big deal was, however, since she “returned” the vehicle later.
Shelton “returned” the vehicle by dropping it off in the Muncie Mall’s parking lot — located next door to RDI Motors — and leaving the keys in the Kia, court documents detail. The stolen Kia ended up being recovered in Anderson, however, according to an RDI Motors employee.
When police asked Shelton what happened to the car after she left it at the mall parking lot, Shelton reportedly “just kept saying that she saw it on some ‘B****’s’ Snapchat.”
According to the investigator who interviewed Shelton, Shelton “did not understand what she was going to be arrested for since she did not have the vehicle any longer.”
Shelton was arrested on preliminary charges of auto theft and identity deception, both Level 6 felonies. She could face up to two and a half years in prison if convicted.
