PROVIDENCE, RI -- Louie Costa, manager of the Satin Doll strip club, turned into an amateur detective on Monday.
At around 7:30 a.m., Costa's car was stolen from outside an adult video store in Attleboro, which Costa also runs.
He said his checkbook was inside the SUV and in the hands of the thief, who apparently tried to put it to use.
About an hour later, Costa got a call from a friend who spotted his SUV in downtown Providence.
Then Costa saw his car himself, pulling into a bank.
"I looked up and there's the truck," he said. "I pointed at him and he just kept going and pulled right in the drive-through."
That's when Costa called police.
"I'm yelling at the cop, 'He's in the drive-through!' so my friend comes from the parking lot and I yell, 'Go to the drive-through! Go to the drive-through! So he blocked the front of the drive-through," Costa said.
Costa said the thief tried to back up but that another friend came around the back and blocked him from leaving.
The man wrote a check from Costa's checkbook that he wanted to cash for $525, police said. The check was for a payment for painting a house.
"He just made himself at home (in my SUV)," Costa said. "I had a big thing of lasagna and meatballs. I got that back.
"I'm the idiot for leaving the keys in the car, but he's the idiot for coming here to cash the check, cause I'm here."
The man was arrested. Police said he was already wanted on charges of writing bad checks.
