By Rene Stutzman
The Orlando Sentinel
SANFORD, Fla. — Rickey Alan Nellis called the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, saying his Hummer had been stolen. The couple driving it told officers that Nellis had traded it for two rocks of crack cocaine.
Deputies didn’t arrest the couple. They jailed Nellis, accusing him of making a false statement to authorities, and then they seized his Hummer. Now they’re suing to keep it.
Nellis, 48, a Longwood salesman, has been in the Seminole County Jail since July 4. His beige 2003 Hummer H2, worth an estimated $30,000, sits in an impound lot.
He’s fighting to get it back.
“This,” said his attorney David A. Webster, “will be interesting.”
Nellis did not trade his Hummer for $60 worth of crack, Webster said.
The sheriff’s lawyer, David Lane, did not return phone calls. Through an agency spokeswoman, he said the fight over the Hummer was still in its early stages.
According to Sheriff’s Office paperwork, this is what happened the night Nellis lost his Hummer: He went to a fireworks display in Altamonte Springs, and sometime around 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. he went to a friend’s home near Altamonte Springs.
While Nellis was in the bathroom, someone took his Hummer keys and drove off.
He told deputies he then smoked two rocks of crack cocaine, left the house and called deputies to report the theft.
Nellis gave several versions, according to his arrest report. That’s why he was arrested — deputies accused him of lying, a misdemeanor.
Deputies found his Hummer at a gas station in Altamonte. They questioned the man and woman inside. Both have lengthy arrest records that include drug charges.
The woman, Rachel Sky Locklear, 25, told officers that she had been at the house with Nellis. She traded $60 worth of crack for the temporary use of his Hummer, she said.
The man behind the wheel, Tyrelle Xavier Petty, 20, gave an account similar to Locklear’s, according to Sheriff’s Office records.
Nellis, who works for a tree-trimming company, has been arrested more than two dozen times, according to state records. He was on probation in at least two grand theft cases when he was locked up July 4, according to jail records.
Copyright 2007 Sentinel Communications Co.