Warrant Issued for Eagan Man Charged with Selling Stolen Car on Craigslist

A nationwide arrest warrant has been issued for an Eagan man accused of stealing a car, then making a counterfeit title for the vehicle and selling it on Craigslist.

Police are looking for Larry Lee Hough, 36, who is charged with two felonies: theft by swindle and receiving stolen property, each of which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. 

According to the criminal complaint, Minneapolis police tracked down a car stolen from a Prior Lake auto dealership on April 21 and arrested the driver for possession of stolen property. The man told police that he had bought the car for $3,200 from a man he knew as “Mark,” who placed an ad for the car on Craigslist.

Video surveillance at the car dealership showed a Jeep circling the lot, then parking at a nearby bank. Shortly afterward, a man got out of the Jeep, crossed the street and stole the car.

Police traced the Jeep’s ownership record and found that it was registered to Hough.

The man arrested with the stolen car identified Hough in a photo lineup. The man said the transaction had taken place at an Eagan apartment complex, and that Hough had provided a certificate of title for the car.

An investigator took the certificate of title to the Minnesota Department of Vehicle Services, and employees there identified it as counterfeit. The title was described as an “excellent reproduction,” with only two minor inconsistencies which identified it as false, according to the complaint.

Police went to Hough’s home in Eagan, but neighbors told them that Hough had left a short time earlier with his girlfriend. Hough called a Prior Lake officer on April 26, indicated “some involvement” in the transaction, but refused to come in for an interview or to reveal his whereabouts.

Hough is also wanted on a separate charge of second-degree criminal sexual conduct in Dakota County. Anyone with information on him should contact local police.