If you are driving a stolen car, it’s not a smart idea to pull up and park in front of the police station. Especially if you then hand the car key to an officer who asks if you need any help.
That lesson seems to have been lost on William Hixon, 37, of 157 Penrod Ave., Dayton, Ohio. Hixson remained in the Butler County Jail Thursday, since being arrested by Oxford Police Jan. 23. He is being held in lieu of a $5,150 bond.
He faces a charge of receiving stolen property, related to the theft of a gray Mazda SUV that the Dayton Police had reported stolen off the streets there.
According to the Oxford Police report, Hixson was noticed repeatedly coming in and going out of the lobby of the Oxford Police Department at about 3:20 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 23. Officer David Morgan asked him if he needed help, and Hixson said he was concerned about a sister who he said had an encounter with Oxford Police earlier. He then told Morgan he had no place to go, and the officer offered to take him to McDonald’s to get something to eat while Hixson waited for someone to come pick him up, the report said.
The police report’s narrative states that as they were getting ready to go to McDonald’s, Hixson handed Morgan a car key that he said he had driven himself to Oxford from Dayton, and noted that the car was parked on High Street in front of the police station. Hixson told him the car wasn’t his but that an older woman in Dayton had given it to him. Morgan then asked Hixson if after running the plates on the car, the car would come up stolen. Hixson said he didn’t know, the report said.
But it did.
Hixon was arrested for receiving stolen property. The owner of the vehicle, Morgan Chaplin, 20, whose home address was listed on the report as Peebles, Ohio, was contacted and retrieved the car, according to the report. Chaplin told police that her wallet, $70 in cash and some items attached to her key chain were missing.
Oxford Police Lt. Lara Fening said Hixson was charged with receiving stolen property, rather than car theft, because while there are no witnesses to the theft, it is clear that he ended up with the car.
“The burden of proof is much less to charge with having stolen property on you as opposed to you stole it,” Fening said.
Fening said police had no record of any interaction with the sister that Hixson apparently came into the station looking for. While his address is listed on the report as being in Dayton, he does have ties to Oxford, she said.
“He’s got a couple of sisters that live back here,” Fening said. “I don’t know where he’s been staying in general, though.”
