A US Marine veteran says he was arrested six weeks before his wedding for stealing a Hertz rental car he had returned years earlier in Washington DC
Blake Gober, 33, rented a car from Hertz in West Virginia in November 2019 and dropped off the keys at the return station at Reagan National Airport, CBS News reported.
Three years later, Gober said he was pulled over in Louisville, Kentucky, for speeding. But instead of just getting a ticket, Marin was told he would be extradited to West Virginia.
“They pulled me into the back of the vehicle and put me in handcuffs and said I had a warrant for my arrest out of West Virginia,” Gober said. “It is hell. It was the worst.”
Gober found himself charged in January with theft of a rental vehicle and grand larceny, facing a possible 12-year prison sentence that would see him separated from his wife.
Blake Gober, a US marine veteran, was arrested three years after he checked out a Hertz rental to go to a new job in Washington DC X / @@ebgober
The veteran’s case, however, is not unusual, as Hertz has come under fire for allegedly filing hundreds of false theft charges over the years.
Like Gober, many Hertz customers have found themselves arrested and jailed, with some held at gunpoint.
The veteran said he was falsely accused and brought in by police just six weeks before his wedding to his wife, Erica. X / @@ebgober
Last December, the rental company agreed to pay $168 million for 364 cases of alleged false reporting, with US senators also calling on the federal government to investigate Hertz.
Hertz CEO Stephen Scherr, who took over the role in February, claimed the incident stemmed from a glitch in the company’s systems.
The company, however, stood by its allegations against Gober, claiming that he kept a day’s rent for over three months without paying.
Gober said he followed proper procedures when dropping off the vehicle at the Reagan Hertz National Airport station. Hertz Google Maps has come under fire after hundreds of customers were accused of stealing their rentals, with some held at gunpoint. CBS NEWS
The company also claims they made repeated attempts to contact Gober, but all their calls, texts and emails were “ignored.”
Gober denied the company’s claims, saying he never received any messages from them, with court documents showing that Hertz sent their correspondence to the former vet’s address.
The Monongalia County District Attorney in charge of the case has filed to dismiss the charges against Gober, slamming Hertz as an unreliable plaintiff, according to CBS.
Gober claims that he never received any notice from Hertz regarding their allegations.X / @@ebgober
“The state has lost confidence in the reliability of the information provided by the victim in the case,” prosecutors said in the filing.
Gober and his wife, Erica, said the past year has been the hardest of their lives as they hope the case will be dismissed and the veteran can return to his life in peace.
“Accusing innocent people and trying to go after innocent people, that is not justice. That is against justice,” he said.
Prosecutors are seeking to dismiss charges against Gober after slamming Hertz as an unreliable source of information. AP
Hertz filed for bankruptcy protection in 2020 after struggling with its debt and a drop in travel caused by the pandemic. It operates the Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty car rental brands.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
