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Car Thief Claimed He Was Foreigner's Drummer, Police Say

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TBO.com

Published: February 10, 2009

Eric Hook

CLEARWATER - A man passing himself off as the drummer for the band Foreigner stole the Corvette of a woman he befriended Monday night, then crashed it and ran, Clearwater police say.

Eric Hook, a 48-year-old transient, was charged with grand theft auto, leaving the scene of an accident involving property damage, theft, and providing a false name to law enforcement officials, said Elizabeth Watts, Clearwater's public safety spokeswoman.

Hook claimed to be Cory James, the drummer for the rock band Foreigner, but there has never been a drummer with that name for the band.

Still, he used that guise to get services and food at the Hilton hotel on Mandalay Avenue all day Monday, Watts said. Hook also used the name and room number of a patron at the hotel, she said.

Earlier Monday, he had befriended a New Port Richey woman, Norma S. Rutledge, 47, at a Marriott hotel in Tampa, and the two ended up at the Hilton, Watts said. At some point, Hook persuaded a valet at the Hilton to let him have Rutledge's 2002 Chevrolet Corvette, and he then crashed it at the intersection of Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard and McMullen-Booth Road before bailing and running off, Watts said.

A police dog tracked him down.

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