MIDVALE, Utah, Aug. 27, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — A man was booked into the Tooele County Jail after officials say he stole a vehicle idling outside the Montego Bay Resort, in Wendover, Nevada, and drove away with a passenger inside.
The 61-year-old woman in the van was waiting for her husband to check them into a hotel room. She in the vehicle, waiting, when the suspect saw the running vehicle and jumped in to steal it, Tooele County Sheriff Sgt. Nicholas Yale told Gephardt Daily.
Yale said the suspect was later identified as Marc Thomas Banyai.
“The victim was still in there,” Yale said. “He stopped for the victim after she kept saying she needed the restroom. The suspect turned off at mile marker 99 (of of Interstate 80), and the victim jumped out at a stop light.”
The victim contacted law enforcement, and told them the stolen vehicle had GPS. Officials tracked it to Midvale, where Banyai was arrested by Unified Police officers from the Midvale Precinct early Thursday morning.
“It occurred at about 11 last night, and we were able to locate the suspect about 2:30 a.m. in Salt Lake County,” Yale said. “We were lucky it had a GPS, and we were able to get the suspect. It was very, very good for us.”
Banyai, 51, was returned to Tooele County, and was booked on charges of:
- Kidnapping, detain/restrain victim for substantial time, a second-degree felony
- Theft of an operable vehicle, a second-degree felony
The victim was unhurt.
“She is fine, back with her family and husband,” Yale said. “He didn’t know she was gone until he came back out.”
Banyai is being held on $50,000 bail.
