A Montgomery County family's car was stolen from a Metro station, damaged by strangers, abandoned and later towed by police.
Joe Gillette, a Rockville resident, said his 1997 Ford van was stolen from the Twinbrook Metro station parking lot last Tuesday.
"We called Rockville Police, they said to call Metro Transit Police and they took a report," Gillette explained.
Gillette later found out whoever stole his van had left it off Ridgeway Avenue in the Twinbrook area early Wednesday morning. Residents of that neighborhood spotted suspicious activity around the van and called police.
The car was then towed -- and the Gillette family still had no idea where it was. They finally tracked found the car at Montrose Towing in Derwood, just a few blocks from the Twinbrook Metro station where the car had gone missing in the first place.
Late Thursday night, his insurance agent called to let him know his car had been found -- but the agent didn't even know where the car was.
Gillette said it cost his family more than $300 to pay a towing and storage bill -- much more than the car is even worth.
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"Between that and the damage ... it would have been better if they hadn't found it," he said.
The individuals who stole his car left behind a tool kit and some painting tools -- as well as a considerable amount of body damage.
As of Friday evening, Gillette had still not gotten a call from police that his car had been found.
