Missing Stutz Is Turned In; Suspect, Owner Tied to Rift

A 1923 Stutz Roadster stolen from its owner’s home in Rancho Penasquitos last weekend was turned over to police Tuesday, police said.

An individual called police at 9:30 a.m., and officers from the auto-theft detail accompanied the suspect--whom police refused to identify--to the car.

Police spokesman Bill Robinson said the suspect’s name will be withheld until the investigation is finished. Robinson said, however, that the suspect apparently played a role in the antique car’s restoration.

The car is worth at least $72,000 if it is in “showroom condition,” according to the February edition of the Old Cars Price Guide, said Ray Borges, automotive librarian and historian for Harrah’s Automobile Museum in Reno, Nev. Owner Richard Allen Kraft claims his “90% restored” antique is worth at least $150,000.

Kraft said he thinks he knows who took the car, describing the person as someone with whom he had a verbal agreement to help restore it. But the person stopped working when the restoration project took too long, Kraft said.

Police said only that the car was found with a “third party.” Robinson said this individual was not involved in the disappearance of the vehicle.

Robinson said the car was impounded by police for safekeeping.

“The initial investigation into this matter appears to indicate that this is a civil matter, not a criminal one,” Robinson said.

Kraft disagreed.

“How can this be a civil matter,” he said, “if a man cuts the lock on my garage door and takes my car without my knowledge?

“I intend to press charges for car theft and burglary.”