A Rockmart man was booked into the Polk County Jail on multiple theft charges after he promised to fix a truck but instead had it towed and parked next to a burned-out trailer on another property and refused to contact the owner for weeks.
Police were called in to investigate the incident involving Gary Neil Rakestraw, 65, of 440 Sky Lane, Rockmart, after the owner of the truck reported that he had paid Rakestraw in mid-December to complete work on his 1985 Nissan Pickup, and paid him $200 in cash and $500 by CashApp.
The report stated the victim had the truck towed by 5 Star Towing at the behest of Rakestraw, and the victim paid an additional $100 at the time.
The victim never heard from Rakestraw again, who let all calls go to voicemail and didn’t respond to any text messages. Police reported that the victim later got information and texted Rakestraw that his truck was “by a burned double wide” trailer on East Rome Highway.
Additionally, the victim went further in his efforts to recover his truck and found the 5 Star Towing driver, who reported that he was instructed to drop it off at the East Rome Highway address by Rakestraw at the time.
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The victim told police that he wanted to press charges since he still had the title in hand, and the work was never completed for the $700 he spent. He also provided a digital receipt from the CashApp payment.
Officers who took the initial report turned it over to the criminal investigation division, who later pulled warrants for Rakestraw’s arrest on felonies for theft by deception and theft by conversion. He also faces the same charges as midemeanors.
Rakestraw remained in jail as of this posting without bond set.
