Police: Video Shows Owner Kissing Man Who Stole Maserati

Shortly before her Maserati was stolen from the parking lot of the Blue Martini nightclub, the owner was kissing and caressing the suspect on the hood of the Italian sports car, police say.

The woman, Gloria Higham, 37, disputed that account in a telephone interview, saying she was only bidding an acquaintance a friendly goodnight after he helped her with her car. Higham said she had no idea he also was holding the keys.

The encounter last week was captured on videotape, and that led police to George Rios, 33, said Tampa Police Department spokeswoman Andrea Davis. Rios, identified in jail records as an employee of 007 Exterminators, was charged with grand theft. He was released from Orient Road Jail on Monday after posting $7,500 bail.

An arrest warrant has been issued for Rios' friend, Andrue Lilly, who helped steal the car, Davis said. The white, 2007 Maserati was valued at $110,000.

The car was reported stolen early Thursday morning by Higham, vice president of Interstate Transport. Her husband, Tim Higham, is president and chief executive of the shipping company, which advertises on its Web site that it controls more Florida freight than any other company.

Higham told police there was a disturbance and someone spilled a drink on her at Blue Martini, in International Plaza at 2223 N. West Shore Blvd. She said she later noticed her purse, containing the car keys, was missing. Then she noticed the Maserati was missing and called police, according to a police report.

The car was up on blocks when it was recovered near a Sheldon Road apartment complex. The rims and tires were missing, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, which responded to a call from someone who found the car.

Images captured by a parking lot surveillance camera show Higham and Rios entering camera view about 12:39 a.m. Thursday, kissing and caressing, according to Davis.

This lasted until about 12:46 a.m., when Higham got into a car described as a Bentley and driven by a man police are not identifying.

Higham told police she was getting a ride home for a spare set of keys.

As Higham was leaving in the Bentley, Rios and Lilly left in a Toyota.

Minutes later, Rios and Lilly returned to the parking lot, police said. Lilly got out of the Toyota, opened the Maserati with keys and drove away, following Rios in the Toyota, police said.

Police will not say how the pair obtained the keys.

Higham said Rios is only a "friend of a friend" that she encountered at the bar about 20 minutes before an intoxicated woman fell on her table, creating a commotion in which her purse was stolen. She said she does not think the woman had anything to do with the theft of her purse or the car.

Higham said she left the club thinking Rios and Lilly were going to help her contact AAA. She said she has no romantic involvement with Rios and that she only kissed him on the cheeks in a friendly manner.

She said once she realized AAA could not help her, she called the friend with the Bentley to give her a ride to her St. Petersburg home to pick up the spare set of keys.

After going home and telling her husband what happened, she returned to the Blue Martini about 2 a.m. with the man in the Bentley and found her Maserati missing, she said. She then told a mall security guard to call police.

Higham's attorney, Robert Bivins, said it is his understanding that the detective investigating the case, Harry Augello, has a different view of what happened in the parking lot "and is unhappy the information came out."

Davis said departmental policy prohibits Augello from discussing an ongoing investigation.

Aside from having the rims and tires stolen, Higham said, she lost a gym bag with her passport, a child seat, a tennis racket, CDs, children's toys and other personal items.

Higham called the entire incident "a huge hassle" and is "glad the police caught who did it."

"Obviously, somebody took advantage of me," she said. "They had intentions of stealing from me, and I didn't know it."

Police are still investigating, and additional arrests or charges are possible, Davis said.