When Pike County Sheriff’s Deputies found a man whose vehicle had run out of gas on U.S. Highway 29 late Monday, they had no idea they had found a vehicle stolen just hours earlier in Dothan.

Sgt. Kevin Childs said the deputies found Derrick Donta Russaw, 32, of Columbia, Alabama, standing next to the vehicle that had run out of gas.

“Two other deputies got out with him,” Childs said. “His car was parked in the roadway. When we ran the tag, it came back as a stolen vehicle.”

Childs said the vehicle, a Kia Optima, was reported stolen from the parking lot of a Dollar General in Dothan at 7:02 p.m. Monday. Pike County’s deputies found Russaw with the vehicle at 11:05 p.m., Childs said.

Russaw wasn’t the only person in the vehicle. Childs said another subject fled on foot and the deputies were unable to locate the individual. Childs said Russaw reported that person to be a female, but that surveillance video at the Dollar General showed another black male with Russaw when the car was stolen.

The same video, Childs said, showed that Russaw was the driver of the vehicle. Russaw was transported back to Houston County for prosecution and has been charged with first-degree theft of property.

First-degree theft of property is a Class B felony in Alabama punishable by two to 20 years in prison.