Warrant: Items in stolen car linked to 2 men

A search warrant filed in Lorain County Common Pleas Court gives insight into the investigation of a stolen car that contained candy and a soft drink.

The warrant was filed Jan. 10 and was granted by Common Pleas Judge D. Chris Cook.

It requests the Erie County Sheriff’s Office to obtain buccal swabs from a 21-year-old Lorain man accused of stealing a car Oct. 25, 2017, from a home in the 200 block of Village Court in Vermilion.

According to the filing, the owner of the black 2009 Nissan Sentra told officers the car had gone missing from her garage.

It was found five days later near the intersection of West 22nd Street and Beech Avenue in Lorain.

When sheriff’s deputies processed the vehicle, they discovered several items that did not belong to the owner, according to the filing.

These included a halfeaten sucker as well as an open bottle of Arizona Iced Tea Watermelon that still contained liquid, the filing said.

According to the warrant, these items were sent to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation for a DNA analysis on both.

The sucker produced DNA from a subject known to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation from a separate case, the warrant says.

The Bureau of Criminal Investigation found that the DNA on the Arizona bottle matched a Lorain man, but detectives needed another sample of his DNA to verify, according to the warrant.

As such, the Sheriff’s Office sought a warrant to gather buccal swabs, which are taken from the inside of a cheek.

According to the warrant, neither man was arrested or charged with the theft.

The case remains under investigation.