A Bloomington man is accused of taking a car in Greene County out for a test drive but not purchasing it and not returning it.

Christopher Lee Stidd, 49, of Bloomington, was arrested on a warrant that was issued for his arrest earlier in June related to an incident that occurred in late November of 2019. Stidd had been incarcerated in the Monroe County Jail and was transferred to Greene County on Friday, June 19.

Stidd then appeared in Greene Superior Court via videoconference between the jail and the courtroom for an initial hearing this morning.

Stidd is accused of taking a car out for a test drive, and never returning it.

Greene County Sheriff’s Deputy Alan Jackson, the investigating officer, and Deputy David Elmore were dispatched to a residence in eastern Greene County late last November where the resident said he was selling a white Chrysler convertible and a man who took it out for a test drive didn’t come back. He didn’t know the name of the man, but he said the man’s vehicle was still sitting at his residence and he provided the vehicle’s plate number.

When the deputies contacted the registered owner of the plate, who was from Bloomington, the owner said his license plate should not be on any vehicle in Greene County and he thought the plate should be on a wrecked vehicle on his property.

When the deputies traveled to the scene and talked to the resident, the man, later identified as Stidd, was on the property around a camper that was near a roadway. The resident recognized him as the man who’d taken the Chrysler. Stidd didn’t have a driver’s license in his possession and said it was his understanding he had traded his vehicle for the man’s Chrysler and the camper.

Stidd was advised to go get the Chrysler and return it – the owner said he wouldn’t press charges if he’d bring it back. So Stidd left. But he didn’t come back and the owner later told deputies he wanted to report the car as stolen after all.

Deputies later determined Stidd had given them a false name – that of his brother, who said Stidd had used his name before.

When the vehicle that Stidd had left behind was inventoried then towed, officers reported finding three syringes with contents that field-tested positive as methamphetamine.

The deputies did not locate Stidd, but they later learned the Chrysler was towed from a parking lot on the south side of Bloomington and they were able to contact the owner to tell him his vehicle had been found.

At some point, Stidd apparently wound up in the Monroe County Jail, then last week he was transferred here to face charges.

Stidd has now been charged with:

Unlawful possession of a syringe, a Level 6 felony,

Theft where value of property is between $750 and $50,000, a Level 6 felony,
Possession of methamphetamine, a Level 6 felony,
Identity deception, a Level 6 felony, and
False informing, a Class B misdemeanor.

During the hearing, a public defender was appointed to represent Stidd and his bond in this case was set at $10,000 surety with ten percent cash allowed. He has not posted bond and remains in the Greene County Jail as of late Tuesday.