Local Matters
BURLINGTON — “Get a life. Get off the streets. Go to school. Get a job. Do something with your life.” That’s the advice 75-year-old Burlington resident Jane Dworshak has for the punk police say stole her car last Thursday morning.
The car, a 2000 silver Honda Accord, was pinched in front of Union Station while Dworshak was visiting the Montstream Studio and Gallery. Her son Alan is married to artist Katharine Montstream. Jane Dworshak says she saw the alleged thief — sporting orange spiked hair — on her way into the studio, and even gave him a friendly hello as she passed. “We made eye contact,” she says.
The man followed her into the studio and pretended to be looking at her daughter-in-law’s prints, but later snuck out and stole the vehicle, says Dworshak, who admits to leaving her keys in the car. “You trust people. You really do,” she says.
Three days later, police had tracked the vehicle to the northern Florida town of Yulee. It was parked in a mall lot, and two young men were sleeping in the front seats, according to the Nassau County Clerk’s Office in Florida.
Brian Wilbur, 20, is believed to have stolen the vehicle and is charged with felony grand theft auto, say police. He has no known address. Police say Alex Michelson, 20, of Virginia, was in the car with Wilbur. He was also charged with felony grand theft auto. The two men are in a Florida jail.
The Dworshaks are hoping insurance will cover the costs of transporting the car back to Vermont.