November 9, 2018 – A man on parole for stealing an ambulance and leading police on a two-state chase in 2014 is now charged with stealing a $100,000 Maserati in the Loop.

Edwin Herrera, age 38, stole the silver sports car, according to prosecutors, after it was left running in front of an apartment building near State Street & East Ninth Street around 11:30 p.m. on November 3.

Unbeknownst to Herrera, the owner’s mobile phone was still inside the sports car and the victim’s friends were able to track the vehicle as it was driven around town, according to a police report. They saw Herrera stop for gas in Little Italy and watched as he sped away before police arrived. They caught up with the car again a few minutes later, only to lose it again.

Chicago police say Herrera (left) abandoned the vehicle an hour later on West Taylor Street, a few blocks from where it was stolen. He gathered items from the car, including the victim’s phone, and started walking. Police followed the phone’s pings and arrested Herrera around 12:30 a.m. on Sunday back near State & Ninth Streets. The Maserati owner’s phone and identification were found about 25 feet away.

Witnesses identified Herrera as the man seen driving the car after it was stolen, according to court records. He was charged with possessing a stolen motor vehicle and theft of lost or mislaid property. Circuit Court Judge David Navarro ordered him held without bail.

Herrera was paroled in March after serving half of a four-year sentence for stealing a Dodge ambulance in northwest Indiana in 2014. The ambulance driver had left the rig running while he picked up a patient at a medical center in Gary. Indiana authorities followed the ambulance’s GPS tracker, located the vehicle, then chased it through much of Lake County and into Chicago.

Chicago police say Herrera told them he took the ambulance “to get a ride home.”