Boca Police Arrested Man For Driving Stolen Rental Car He Says Is Not Stolen

Gregory Berman Of Boca Raton Arrested For Driving Stolen Rental Car. Was It An Error?

BOCA RATON, FL – Boca Post (BocaPost.com) — A Boca Raton man was arrested on Tuesday afternoon for “Theft – Failure To Redeliver Leased Equipment” in Boca Raton after Boca Police say he was driving a vehicle reported stolen by Budget Rental.

Gregory Berman, 57, of Boca Raton, was driving a Nissan Pathfinder near the Boca Towncenter Mall when the vehicle triggered one of Boca Raton Police Department’s cameras as being stolen. Berman was then pulled over near the mall and ordered out of the vehicle as a ‘felony stop’. A technique law enforcement officers must practice when pulling over anyone in a stolen vehicle. Berman was said to be cooperative and was taken into custody without incident.

Boca PD officers confirmed with Budget Rental in West Palm Beach that the vehicle was in fact an over-due rental as reported. Berman was reported as the suspect in the FCIC/NCIC databases due to the vehicle being reported stolen in West Palm Beach.

Berman said he is up to date on all of his payments on the vehicle he has been renting since September. Berman even showed the officer a $1,178.75 dollar automatic payment through his Bank of America account on 4/8/22.

It is unclear if the payment was for this vehicle or another. If the payment is correct, Berman may have been wrongfully arrested due to some clerical error. The courts will decide whether or not Berman has defrauded the rental car company and drove a stolen vehicle.

Officers arrested Berman and he was charged with “Theft – Failure To Redeliver Leased Equipment”.  Berman was booked into PBSO jail at 6:45 PM on Tuesday evening where he is now.