The Cape Coral police chief’s son remained in jail Friday after reportedly pawning items that did not belong to him to buy cocaine.
Michael Kevin Murphy, 34, of 612 S.E. Eighth St., was charged Tuesday with three counts of fraud false owner information pawned items less than $300 and dealing in stolen property, and one count of larceny grand theft $300 to less than $5,000.
On April 13, a man told the Cape police that his 2006 Chevrolet was stolen. He said he loaned the vehicle to Murphy the night before to deliver flyers for a business for a few hours and Murphy was supposed to return it afterward.
The man said he gave Murphy 24 hours to return the vehicle before calling police, and that he had not heard from Murphy and could not reach him.
According to an arrest report, the sheriff’s office later located the vehicle and Murphy was with it. Construction tools that had been in the back of the vehicle were missing. Cape detectives learned that several had been pawned.
Seven items had reportedly been pawned by Murphy for a total of $155.
The owner of the vehicle identified the pawned tools as his.
On Tuesday, detectives met with Murphy at the Lee County Jail, where he was being held on unrelated charges. He had been booked April 22 by Fort Myers police for cocaine possession and possess or use narcotic equipment.
Murphy told the Cape detectives that “he wanted to make things right and tell the truth,” the report states. He said he took the vehicle to Fort Myers and bought cocaine, but quickly ran out of money so he took the man’s tools out of the vehicle and pawned them for money to buy more cocaine.
Murphy is being held on $37,500 bond. He has court on May 23 and June 6.
Police Chief Jay Murphy declined to comment on his son’s arrest Friday.
This is the not the first time that Michael Murphy has had a run in with law enforcement. He has an arrest record in Lee County that goes back to 1998.
Most of the charges include vehicle theft, larceny, burglary, fraud and drugs. Most recently, he was arrested in September for grand theft of a vehicle.