Man arrested after test-driving dealership cars after-hours

A North Hollywood man was charged with trespassing this week when he was spotted wandering around a local Mercedes-Benz dealership after closing and was later found to have moved vehicles around because he was “testing” them, police said.

Around 2:15 a.m. on Monday, an off-site security camera monitoring the dealership caught 30-year-old Arthur Carnegy acting erratically as he walked about the fourth floor of a parking structure at Calstar Motors, 708 S. Brand Blvd., said Glendale Police spokeswoman Tahnee Lightfoot.

Security personnel called police, she added.

Upon arrival, officers came across three female maintenance workers who began their shift at 2 a.m., Lightfoot said. They told police they had heard the dealership’s burglar alarm go off several times and a few hubcaps had been removed from a wall, Lightfoot said.

They also heard a vehicle running on the third floor as well as a man screaming, she said.

Officers searched the structure and found the suspect carrying a flashlight on the fourth floor, Lightfoot said.

An investigation revealed Carnegy had found an unlocked door off Brand Boulevard to gain entry, she said.

It was also determined that he moved three vehicles around in the parking structure because he was “testing” them, Lightfoot said.

The dealership’s manager and service manager confirmed several vehicles were driven around inside the structure and said Carnegy was not an employee.

Carnegy was arrested on suspicion of burglary and unlawful taking and driving a vehicle, but the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office charged him instead with a single count of trespassing.

He was released Wednesday in lieu of $25,000 bail.