Inmate takes stolen police car 1,800 miles

WATERPROOF, La., July 17 (UPI) -- A Louisiana sheriff said he is baffled as to how a jail inmate managed to steal an unmarked police cruiser and drive it 1,800 miles to Maine.

Tensas Parish Sheriff Rickey Jones said Benjamin Gottke, 43, was working in the sheriff's office kitchen last week as part of the jail's trusty program when he managed to steal the unmarked cruiser and drive it to Houlton, Maine, where he was stopped while attempting to cross into Canada, the Natchez (Miss.) Democrat reported Tuesday.

Jones said Gottke likely took the keys from a storage shed at the jail that is used to house the keys to several vehicles.

"This situation is going to make me rethink a lot of things with our trusty program and where we keep certain things," Jones said. "The jailer that was working that night said (Gottke) was acting normal, so we're not sure what motivated him yet."

Gottke was rearrested at 2:30 p.m. Saturday after U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents asked him for identification at the Canadian border.