By Justin Story, Bowling Green Daily News

BOWLING GREEN — A man arrested at an auto dealership Friday morning on burglary and other criminal charges was seen attempting to sell a car to a couple and told police he owned the business, an arrest citation said.

Dustin Allen Cardwell, 34, was arrested by the Bowling Green Police Department on charges of third-degree burglary, theft by unlawful taking, first-degree criminal mischief, unauthorized possession of title or registration forms, no operator’s license and reckless driving.

City police were called Friday morning to R&M Auto Sales on Russellville Road regarding a suspicious person at the dealership.

Officers found a man, later identified as Cardwell, in clothes matching what the caller described and looking at a vehicle with the couple.

According to an arrest citation, Cardwell was attempting to sell the vehicle when police approached him.

When police asked Cardwell whether he worked at the dealership or had any business there, Cardwell reported stated he owned the business.

“Dustin replied he was the owner as of an hour ago (and) the paper work has not made it through the system yet,” Cardwell’s arrest citation said.

As police spoke with Cardwell, the actual owner of R&M Auto Sales joined them, reporting that the back window of the business office was open and that he found security footage showing Cardwell inside the business.

According to court records, the footage showed Cardwell grabbing keys and stacks of titles and other paperwork and then getting into a 2017 GMC Sierra and leaving the lot.

As police prepared to search Cardwell, he pulled the keys to the Sierra out of his pocket and said he drove it to a gas station down the road from the business and back, his citation said.

Officers reviewed surveillance footage that appeared to show Cardwell driving the Sierra through the lot and striking the back of a Dodge Dart that was also in the dealership’s inventory, according to his citation.

Cardwell was due to appear Monday in Warren District Court for arraignment.

He is in Warren County Regional Jail under a $7,500 cash bond.