Police arrest owner of ‘stolen’ car found in river

The owner of the car that was found in the Black River is facing charges after police say he pushed the vehicle into the water Oct. 10 near the Valley of the Eagles golf course.

Randall White, 52, of Elyria, was arrested without incident Oct. 18 and charged with insurance fraud, inducing panic and making false alarms in connection to the incident, according to a news release from the Elyria Police Department.

Police were alerted to the 2018 Kia Sorrento, which was found upside down in the river near Ford Road in Elyria, by a golfer who had played the course the previous day and had not seen the car before, the release said.

Elyria fire personnel repelled down the steep embankment and discovered no one was in the car and there was no evidence of anyone being ejected from the vehicle, according to the release.

When officers ran the license plate on the Sorento, they discovered White had reported it stolen from in front of his apartment on Fox Hill Lane at 2:50 a.m. on the same day.

He claimed he parked it at about 6:30 p.m. the day before, and when his girlfriend came over about 1:30 a.m., it wasn’t there, the release said.

Officers obtained video of a person pushing the car into the ravine, and through other evidence, verified it was White, according to the release.

White was arraigned Oct. 19 before Elyria Municipal Judge Gary C. Bennett.

White is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Nov. 19 before Municipal Judge Robert C. White.

Judge White is not related to the suspect, the court verified.