A Carson City man running an errand for his aunt drove off in the wrong minivan and was confronted by police upon his return.
At 2:22 p.m. Thursday in the 1600 block of Airport Road, Connie Slader reported her tan 1995 Mercury Villager was missing from an apartment parking lot.
Slader said the car was locked, she had her keys with her and she'd only been inside for about 15 minutes when she noticed her van was gone.
As officers were talking with her, the missing van pulled into the parking lot. The driver parked in a stall about five spaces over and got out.
A deputy confronted him at gunpoint and ordered him to the ground.
"The subject complied with a confused look on his face," wrote Deputy Rick Dodds in the report.
When Dodds told the man he was in a stolen van, the man said the van belonged to his aunt who had asked him to run to the store. He said he unlocked the door with his aunt's key, and the key even worked in the ignition.
Moments later officers located the aunt's tan Nissan van on the northwest end of the building. The key worked on it, too.
Apparently, Dodds said, the missing van had a sloppy ignition and would run on any key. According to the report, the nephew said he hadn't ever driven his aunt's van. He only knew it was tan.
Dodds released the man "and advised him to make sure of the vehicle he is getting into." Slader was advised to have her ignition fixed.
"It was totally ironic," said Slader, who noted her purse was untouched when she reclaimed her vehicle. "The thing that's so amazing was their key fit my car. It was just a total mistake."