Port St. Lucie - Tuesday January 31, 2023: Port St. Lucie Police (PSLPD) have arrested a suspect in the theft of a stolen van that had a wheelchair man inside it.
In a release Tuesday afternoon PSLPD says they have taken 46-Year-Old John Peloquin of New Hampshire into custody and charged him with grand theft of a vehicle and abuse of a disabled adult.
The stolen 2014 Dodge Caravan he's accused of stealing was recovered Monday evening, and the wheelchair bound man who was inside it was found "safe and unharmed."
Earlier, PSLPD reported that the driver of the van was a group home employee who was taking the wheelchair bound man to an appointment. Shortly before 2 p.m. Monday afternoon the driver pulled into a convenience store parking area in the 900 block SW Bayshore Blvd. He went into the store leaving the nonverbal 55-year-old wheelchair bound man inside the van. When the driver came back out, the van was gone. The driver called 911. Port St. Lucie Police responded at 1:55 p.m.
A closed circuit camera captured images of a shirtless white male suspect getting into the van and driving off with the wheelchair bound man still inside. He was last seen driving the vehicle north on Bayshore Blvd.
The van was later found Monday evening abandoned in the area of SE Floresta Drive and SE Naranja Avenue with the victim still inside. Detectives worked throughout the night to find the suspect. On Tuesday afternoon they took Peloquin into custody.
The Detectives learned that Peloquin had recently arrived in Port St. Lucie and reportedly stole the vehicle in an attempt to get back to New Hampshire. Soon after he stole it however, he abandoned it with the victim still inside unharmed.