A Pleasantville man is facing felony charges after he reportedly refused to return a vehicle he’d worked on to the deceased owner’s family.
Thirty-one-year-old Richard Heck is charged with a felony count of second degree theft; the Marion County Sheriff’s Office says he had been in possession of the vehicle since 2015, when the late owner originally gave it to him for repairs to the transmission.
Deputies say Heck claimed this past March he was holding on to the vehicle until he was paid for the work, and they told him doing so constituted theft. He was told to file a mechanic’s lien on the car, and return it to the rightful heirs.
The vehicle still hadn’t been released as of August, and a warrant was issued for Heck’s arrest.