Charges filed after rental truck not returned

EAU CLAIRE — A Chicago man charged after he rented a truck and failed to return it missed his plea hearing Thursday. It has been rescheduled for Nov. 12.

Antonio Malone, 49, is charged with theft of movable property valued between $10,000 and $100,000 and bail jumping in Eau Claire County, but that’s not his only legal challenge.

According to the criminal complaint, Malone rented the box truck for one day in late April. When he didn’t return it, the company contacted him. It offered an extension on the contract, but required a credit card to do so. Malone never provided one. Neither did he return the truck.

A while later an employee from the rental company spotted the truck and reported it to the company. The employee said it appeared someone was living in it, and it was parked at an area hotel.

That’s where police found both the truck and Malone, who had rented a room. When told he was being arrested, he said he had gotten an extension. But he had never fulfilled the requirements for that offer.

The case is one of three open against Malone in Wisconsin. He also faces an Eau Claire County case of failing to provide his residential information for the state’s sex offender registry.

Court records show Malone was convicted of second degree sexual assault of a child in 1996 in Brown County.

That’s also where Malone has an open case for four counts of neglect of a child.