Craigslist Deal Gone Bad in Kohl’s Parking Lot

A Coram, New York man was arrested on a felony charge in Port Chester after a strange circumstance surrounding a craigslist transaction occurred in the Kohl’s Plaza parking lot on Aug. 10, Port Chester police said.

A Rye man who had listed a car for sale on Craigslist was waiting in the parking lot to meet a potential buyer when the buyer called to say he was at McDonalds and would be there in five minutes. One or two minutes after that another man arrived who acted as if he were the potential buyer. The seller allowed the man in the driver seat and while he walked to the passenger side, the man drove away. The seller called police and while they were investigating a 45-year-old man from Coram, New York named Theoplis Watson, arrived and said he was the one looking to buy the car.

Police ran Watson’s license and found it to be a fake Alabama license. They also discovered he had 15 suspensions and 17 scofflaws on two New York driving licenses that he had.

Watson was arrested for aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle, a misdemeanor; expired inspection, a violation and criminal possession of a forged instrument, a class D felony.

The next day, the seller reported that a woman had found a bag he had left on the passenger seat of the stolen car at the New Rochelle train station. The bag was missing about $500 in cash but had several vehicle titles, keys for several vehicles and a Delaware license plate left.