Her car was gone when she returned from Cuba. Her roomie said a ‘Suave’ guy was involved
A Vero Beach area man huffy over $50 in rent fees was arrested on a grand theft auto charge — though he never touched the car in question, according to the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office.
Jon Amato, 52, posted $5,000 bond Monday afternoon.
According to Amato’s arrest report, his roommate, Tina Cooley, returned home Friday after a month in Cuba to find her 2006 Infiniti M35X gone from the driveway of their rented 46th Road house. Amato told Cooley he let a friend he later identified as “Suave” take the car for a run to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
That’s almost exactly a two-hour drive from the house, but Cooley hadn’t given permission for Amato to play Hertz with her car for even a two-minute drive to Publix.
Indian River deputies contacted Amato’s mother, Janet Amato, who they said had spoken to her son earlier in the day. She said Jon Amato knew Cooley was calling the sheriff’s office and told his pal to just leave the car somewhere. Janet Amato and Cooley cajoled Jon Amato into telling them that “somewhere” was the 1800 block of 20th Street, about two miles from where Cooley lived.
Investigators found the car at 1850 20th St., unlocked with the key fob in the center console.
When the sheriff’s office talked to Jon Amato, he admitted letting “Suave” take the car earlier in the day, but thought it was OK because he and Cooley were roommates.
Also, the arrest report said, “Jon later stated that Tina owed him $50 in rent fees and let “Suave” borrow the car as vengeance for being owed money.”
Whoever “Suave” is, he wasn’t charged.
