BEDFORD – A Lawrence County Superior Court I jury after almost two hours of deliberating found Scott Afanador guilty of a Level 6 felony of auto theft.
Now Judge John Plummer III will hold a bench trial to decide if the charge should be enhanced to a Level 5 felony and if Afanador is guilty of being a habitual offender.
Afanador is being represented by Public Defender Denise Turner and Chief Public Defender Bruce Andis. Prosecutor Ryne Koucouthakis and Chief Deputy Prosecutor Allison Chopra are presenting the case for the state.
The trial is being live-streamed at this link.
Afanador was arrested on August 6, 2020, by Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Lonnie Johnson after he was called to a home 8850 block of State Road 158 after a report of a suspicious vehicle in a driveway and someone knocking on the caller’s door.
Sgt. Johnson found Afanador exiting the driveway in a 2003 Chevrolet Malibu that had been reported stolen from the parking lot of Brawley Group on College Mall Road in Bloomington on August 4, 2020.
During the arrest, 44-year-old Afanador repeatedly told the officer he had borrowed the vehicle from a woman named Tabitha Carpenter.
The once gold vehicle was partially painted white.
