Searching for an airport rental car that was two months overdue, investigators followed the trail of evidence to the parking lot of the Dakota County jail in Hastings.
They found their man. The alleged car thief wasn't an inmate, but a corrections officer working at the jail.
Antwayn T. Hunter, whose job description included guarding prisoners, was arrested in late August for allegedly stealing a 2009 Toyota Prius rented from the Hertz branch at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in the summer. On Monday, he was charged with one count of felony motor vehicle theft in Hennepin County District Court.
He resigned from his job three or four weeks ago, said Dave Bellows, chief deputy of the Dakota County Sheriff's Office.
The Sheriff's Office expects all its employees to remain law-abiding, Bellows said Monday evening. "It's a basic tenet of their job," he said.
Hunter, 30, for whom court records list a Cottage Grove address, could not be reached for comment Monday evening.
A June 2007 newsletter published by the Dakota County Sheriff's Office indicates that he started work that summer, and said he had worked as a police officer in Kansas City and Howard Lake, Minn.
According to the complaint, a Hertz employee called police at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Aug. 19 to report that Hunter had rented a tan Prius on June 12 but never returned the vehicle. The car had been due back on June 16, the complaint said, but after two months and numerous attempts to contact Hunter, Hertz could not locate the Prius.
