Hunter
08/17/22
An Iowa City man was arrested after failing to return a rented U-Haul van and lying about its location.
61-year-old Arthur Hess of Marcy Street reportedly rented a U-Haul from Harris Boyz Auto on South Riverside Drive, paying cash. He brought a driver with a valid license with him because he didn’t have a license and couldn’t rent the vehicle himself.
The agreement said that Hess was to bring the vehicle back by 11am on August 4th, but reportedly did not. Harris Boyz made several attempts to contact Hess and numbers associated with the rental, but their calls and voicemails were not returned.
An Iowa City police officer spoke to Hess, who confirmed that he did rent the U-Haul and knew when it was supposed to be returned, but gave the officer several stories about where the U-Haul was and why he thought he paid for an extension.
The officer located the stolen vehicle down the street from Hess’s residence with the windows down, the keys on the floorboard, and his belongings in the back. Harris Boyz Auto was contacted, and they recovered their vehicle.
A warrant for Hess was issued August 8th; he was taken to the Johnson County Jail at 6:10pm Tuesday. He’s been charged with 1st degree Theft, a Class C felony punishable by up to ten years in prison if convicted.