Bentley Bandit gets jail time

Justin William Durbin

A Bently Contintental GT stolen by Justin William Durbin was recovered after Durbin led authorities on a high speed chase in Lake Charles, Louisiana on Thursday. The car is owned by Ambassador Auto Sales in Naples and will be returned on Saturday. Brad Puckett/Lake Charles American Press

The Bentley Bandit has been put in park.

Justin Durbin, the 22-year-old who police say crossed the country in stolen luxury cars, stopping briefly in Naples to swipe a Bentley, will serve up to two years in a Louisiana jail after pleading guilty to two charges felony charges there. He will serve that sentence before being extradited on charges sought in at least eight different locations, according to the Calcasieu Parish District Attorney’s office.

Naples police said Durbin’s crime spree made a stop in July at Ambassador Auto Sales, 3164 Davis Blvd., East Naples, where he stole a set of spare keys while test-driving a silver Bentley Continental GT. He then drove off in vehicle, but was captured two weeks later following a high-speed chase in Lake Charles, La.

The car’s license plate read “DIAL911.”

Durbin’s Louisiana-based public defender, Steven Coward, said Durbin could be released after a year and a half with good behavior. Durbin’s guilty plea earlier this month on charges of aggravated flight from an officer and illegal possession of stolen goods came about two months after his arrest.

“He just said, ‘I want to take care of it and get it done,’” Coward said of Durbin.

Durbin’s path through the legal system remains unclear. He could be sent first to Collier County, the site of his most expensive theft, or to Arizona, where he faces a parole violation, or to several other locations.

“The big stumbling block is whether these various judges are going to give him credit for time served (in Louisiana),” Coward said. “They could say he’s young and can still be rehabilitated.”

Prosecutors will handle the extradition process. Officials from the 20th Circuit State Attorney’s Office could not comment because formal charges haven’t been filed for his alleged Naples auto theft.

Naples police have said they want to extradite Durbin on a first-degree grand theft charge, punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

Law enforcement officials across the country say Durbin stole at least five luxury cars between early June and mid-July. In each case, police say he pretended to be interested in buying a vehicle, then took off with the cars after test drives.

At each location, he’d abandon the previously stolen car. The alleged thefts extended from Ohio to Missouri to Florida.

Coward said Durbin didn’t disclose much about the motivation behind his alleged stretch of nonviolent crimes.

“He couldn’t really explain it,” he said. “Usually it’s a drug thing, but he just said, ‘I like the excitement.’ He seemed to really focus on how everyone looked at him.”