Covered in detail by Atlanta NBC affiliate WXIA-TV, father Kaveh Kamooneh was arrested recently for plugging in his electric Nissan Leaf in at an outdoor outlet located at a school in Chamblee, Georgia. Driving to the school to take part in tennis lessons with his son, Kamooneh plugged in the vehicle before leaving the area to join his son on the court.
Moments after Kamooneh plugged his car into the outlet, a police officer responded to a 911 call that reported a man plugging something into the school’s outdoor outlet. After tracking the power cord back to the Nissan Leaf, the officer started looking through the interior of the unlocked car in an attempt to identify the owner.
According to a statement released by Police Chief Marc Johnson, Kamooneh was argumentative and uncooperative when he returned to find the police officer at his vehicle.
After questioning him about plugging in the car, the officer decided not to arrest Kamooneh for the theft, but he did file a report about the incident. Less than two weeks later, two deputies showed up at Kamooneh’s home to arrest him for the alleged theft of the electricity. Kamooneh spent approximately 15 hours in jail for the theft of the school’s electricity.
While Kamooneh fully admitted that he didn’t have permission from the school to charge his vehicle, he also claimed that there weren’t any school officials available to inquire about the outlet since it was a Saturday morning. According to Kamooneh, the Nissan Leaf was plugged into the outlet for approximately 20 minutes before the incident with the police occurred. Don Francis, a coordinator for an electric vehicle advocacy group in Atlanta, estimates that Kamooneh stole approximately five cents worth of electricity. When asked about the incident, Chamblee police Sergeant Ernesto Ford said “I’m not sure how much electricity he stole, He broke the law. He stole something that wasn’t his.”
