Would you go to jail to keep a Christmas gift a surprise? This SC man did

How far would you go to keep a Christmas gift a secret?

One Bluffton man may have gone too far when he filed a false police report in an elaborate attempt to keep his wife in the dark about her gift.

On Tuesday, Beaufort County sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a stolen vehicle on Pebble Beach Cove in Bluffton. A man said the car belonged to his wife, and said it was last seen around 8 p.m. the night before in the parking lot of their apartment complex.

That morning, the man said he walked outside and noticed the vehicle was gone. He said he walked through the parking lot trying to locate it, but it was nowhere to be found.

The thing was, though, he knew exactly where it was.

The deputy involved got in touch with car’s auto loan provider about the man’s payments, and was informed the vehicle had a GPS, and was, at that time, on Ashwood Drive in Pineland.

A Jasper County sheriff’s deputy went to the address to look for the vehicle. It was found at a mechanic shop, where it was being serviced and painted.

The mechanic working on the car said the owner of the vehicle dropped it off. He added the man had been sending him text messages throughout the day.

The texts were coming from the same number as the man who filed the report.

The Beaufort County deputy called the man to ask about his contact with a mechanic, but he denied knowing anything about it. He said it was possible his wife took it to the shop without him knowing.

The man then said he had to walk away from his wife to speak. Once away, he said he was having his wife’s car painted and serviced as a Christmas present, and filed a false report so she would not catch on to the surprise.

The deputy noted in the report when the man first said the car was stolen, his wife was not present for the first 20 minutes. In that time he never said the vehicle was not actually stolen.

The man was served a warrant for his arrest Tuesday afternoon for filing a false report, and was taken to the Beaufort County Detention Center.

Will he be home for Christmas?

Apparently.

He was released from the detention center Wednesday.

This story was originally published December 23, 2017 at 11:49 AM with the headline "Would you go to jail to keep a Christmas gift a surprise? This SC man did."