Car stolen from valet lot in Newport found in Costa Mesa

Police said they found a car in Costa Mesa over the weekend that had been stolen from a Newport Beach restaurant parking lot when a valet attendant handed its keys to the wrong driver.

But the thief and a trunkful of valuables are still missing, according to authorities.

Lake Forest resident Josh Gelle said he’s glad to be back behind the wheel of his 2014 Mazda CX-9. “I was getting tired of being in a rental car,” he said Tuesday.

Gelle and his girlfriend, Jodie Abadie, were shocked March 7 when they finished dinner at Joe’s Crab Shack on West Coast Highway and walked outside to find that their car was gone.

According to the couple, an attendant handed the Mazda’s keys to someone who claimed that he had lost his valet ticket.

A week later, a towing company notified police that it had hauled a Mazda from a private parking lot in Costa Mesa. Officers identified it as the missing car, Newport Beach police said.

The car was in good condition except for a small scratch on a tire. The keys were left inside, Gelle said.

Gelle said he’s working with the valet company, LAZ Parking, in the hope that he’ll be reimbursed for thousands of dollars worth of items stolen from the car. He declined to say what the items are.

An LAZ Parking spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to a call seeking comment about whether the company would pay for the stolen items. Gelle said LAZ did pay for his car rental and the replacement of locks at his home and office that could have been opened by other keys on the missing key ring.

In an earlier statement, the company said, “We take this incident very seriously, and once we have all of the facts, we will act accordingly.”

Newport Beach police spokeswoman Jennifer Manzella said detectives are looking into the case.