Stolen-car suspect first lets victim buy him breakfast

PHOENIX — A hitchhiker stole a man's car after he stopped to help him last week, but not until he let the man buy him breakfast, Arizona authorities said.

A 69-year-old Sedona, Ariz., man noticed a hitchhiker Thursday in Oak Creek, Ariz., who appeared cold and looked like he had been sleeping outside, the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office said in a statement about the incident released Monday. When the man stopped to offer him assistance, the hitchhiker identified himself as "Rico" and said he was trying to get to Mexico, the sheriff's office said.

According to the sheriff's office, the man bought the hitchhiker breakfast at a nearby restaurant, then offered to withdraw $20 from a bank to help him out. The man drove "Rico'' to the bank, and since it was cold outside, left the hitchhiker in the car with the motor running and heat on while he went into the bank, officials said.

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When he came out, both "Rico'' and the car were gone, the sheriff's office said.

The victim reported the incident, and a bulletin was issued statewide about the stolen car, which also contained a computer and about $500 worth of power tools, officials said.

An Arizona Department of Public Safety trooper spotted the car in Phoenix, heading toward Tucson on Interstate 10 on Thursday afternoon, officials said. Phoenix is 109 miles south of Oak Creek which is just south of Sedona.

The driver refused to stop when Department of Public Safety attempted to stop him, continuing for 10 miles south on I-10 before the department deployed "stop sticks'' on the highway designed to flatten tires, officials said. The car continued an additional 20 miles with flattened tires before he eventually was stopped, officials said.

The man was identified as Ricardo Munoz Ayala, 31, of Phoenix. He was arrested on suspicion of unlawful flight from an officer, endangerment, unlawful use of a vehicle, driving on a suspended license and criminal damage, the sheriff's office said.

Sheriff's officials, in their statement about the incident, said the victim told them that he thought he "sized him up'' well and thought he was a good guy. Sheriff's officials advised the public that there is an inherent risk in such situations of becoming a victim of a robbery or assault, and suggested that it's usually "not worth the risk.''

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