It's not every day a stolen truck turns up in a police parking lot. Photo: CHP Oakland
It’s not every day a stolen truck turns up in a police parking lot, driven there by the person alleged to have taken it. Photo: Oakland CHP
It’s not every day a stolen truck turns up in a police parking lot, driven there by the person alleged to have taken it. Photo: Oakland CHP

The owners of a stolen truck managed to trick the apparent thief into driving straight into the CHP parking lot Tuesday after the Berkeley man tried to sell the owners diapers on the street, authorities report.

Oakland California Highway Patrol spokesman Officer Sean Wilkenfeld said 49-year-old Brett Walker of Berkeley stole a pick-up truck (above) from North Oakland on Monday night.

“The registered owners went to look for their truck this morning and saw it parked a few blocks from where it was stolen,” he said Tuesday. Walker was inside.

As the owners went to call the police, Walker began to drive away, Wilkenfeld said.

They followed the stolen truck until it stopped again a few blocks later.

“The registered owners parked within sight of their truck and called police again,” he said, in a post on Facebook. “This is where it gets interesting…”

According to authorities, Walker then got out of the truck and “walked right up to the registered owners and attempted to sell them diapers. The owners thought fast and said they didn’t have any money, but that they could go to the bank and get some.”

They all got into the truck, and the owners then directed Walker right into the parking lot of the Oakland-area CHP office, at 3601 Telegraph Ave. Wilkenfeld said they were familiar with the neighborhood so they knew where the office was.

Officers took Walker into custody on suspicion of vehicle theft.

No further information was immediately available.

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Emilie Raguso (former senior editor, news) joined Berkeleyside in 2012 and covered politics, public safety and development until her departure in 2022. In 2017, Emilie was named Journalist of the Year...