Delmar Silk

It was not a textbook crime as far as crimes go.

A suspected car thief is accused of crashing the vehicle he stole from a Butler street when he happened to find the keys inside.

But Delmar E. Silk's alleged getaway Saturday was even worse than his driving.

Butler police said the 60-year-old city man left behind personal belongings — including his cell phone — that they used to track him down.

Silk was charged with felony theft and is in the Butler County Prison for the ill-advised alleged caper.

Police believe the defendant was out Saturday night when he spotted a white, 2010 Hyundai Elantra parked at North Main and New Castle streets.

He opened the unlocked car looking for loose change, said police Capt. James Hollobaugh said, but he found something better — or so he may have thought — in the console.

Silk described his next move to police during a later interview.

“He saw the keys (to the car) and he was real drunk and went for a ride,” Hollobaugh said.

The vehicle owner, a 45-year-old Butler man, had been at a nearby restaurant. When he returned about 90 minutes later, he found his car gone around 8:30 p.m. and notified authorities.

Police took his report and looked for the vehicle and any clues, but came up empty. They entered the vehicle as stolen in the National Crime Information Center.

The defendant, according to investigators, took the hot wheels to Mars, possibly to see a friend. Later, however, he allegedly crashed it near Moraine State Park.

State police recovered the car around 12:20 p.m. Sunday at Route 528 and Christley Road in Franklin Township.

The damaged car was “covered in mud,” Hollobaugh said.

Silk was allegedly able to finagle a ride home from an unsuspecting homeowner near the wreck.

The car was eventually towed to a Butler auto body shop. On Monday, the owner again notified police. In the vehicle, he said, were items — a duffel bag and a guitar — that did not belong to him.

In the duffel bag was a cell phone. It didn't take long for investigators to allegedly trace the phone to the guitar-playing Silk, who also owned the musical instrument.

By then, the defendant was already in the county prison, having been arrested Sunday by Butler Township police on an unrelated bench warrant.

He subsequently confessed to stealing the car, said Hollobaugh, who remains puzzled as to why Silk left his belongings behind.