Accused of stealing vehicle, man told police he "just wanted to get back to Milwaukee" from Sheboygan

SHEBOYGAN COUNTY -- A 20-year-old Milwaukee man is facing a felony charge, accused of stealing a vehicle in an effort to get home from Sheboygan. The man told investigators he "just wanted to get back to Milwaukee."

The accused is Frank Shaw, who faces a felony charge of taking/driving a vehicle without the owner's consent.

It happened on Saturday, October 3rd.

It was just after 11:00 a.m. when dispatch broadcast an auto theft that occurred from the former Tidy Car on North 14th Street in Sheboygan.

A 911 caller indicated her vehicle had been stolen, and a partial license plate number was provided for officers. Officers learned the vehicle was last seen heading southbound on 14th Street.

Two minutes after the dispatch broadcast, an officer spotted the vehicle, but wasn't able to see the plate number. The officer performed a U-turn and then noticed the vehicle was accelerating abruptly. The officer activated his emergency lights and sirens and tried to stop the vehicle.

The complaint says as the vehicle approached the rotary at S. 9th Street, the brakes were applied abruptly, and apparently crashed.

Then, a man later identified as Frank Shaw exited the vehicle -- crossing S. 7th Street and running into a yard.

The officer followed in his vehicle -- and observed Shaw heading towards a Mexican restaurant near 8th and Kentucky Avenue.

The complaint indicates as the officer pulled into the restaurant's parking lot, he yelled for Shaw to stop, and Shaw did, as he was cornered between the officer's squad car and the restaurant's front entrance.

Shaw was then taken into custody.

Investigators spoke with the owner of the vehicle Shaw is accused of taking. She indicated she was at the gas station to buy some cigarettes, and since it wasn't busy, she thought it would be okay to leave her vehicle running and unlocked as she went into the store.

The vehicle's owner told investigators she was inside longer than she thought she would be because there were issues with a credit card machine.

When she exited the store -- her vehicle was leaving the parking lot.

Surveillance video from the gas station showed two males walking into the parking lot from the south -- and one was identified as Shaw. The two walked past the woman's vehicle with Shaw looking at it. The two men then walked to the entrance of the store, and a few moments later Shaw walked to and entered the woman's vehicle.

 

When an officer spoke with Frank Shaw, he indicated he and a friend arrived in Sheboygan on the morning of October 3rd via a Greyhound bus. Shaw said they were there to visit someone, but ended up leaving because the person they were there to visit was "acting somewhat bizarre."

The complaint indicates Shaw told investigators he and his friend walked to the gas station, where Shaw noticed the vehicle with its keys inside and the engine running. Shaw indicated he "just wanted to get back to Milwaukee," so he jumped into the vehicle and drove away.

Shaw has been convicted of one felony within the past five years (burglary out of Milwaukee County in 2013), according to the complaint.