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A man who in January was stopped by police while fueling up a stolen U-Haul truck allegedly said it was rented by a woman who does not exist with the address of a vacant lot.

Kendal Ross Mayfield, 42, of Beaumont was indicted this week by a Jefferson County grand jury. 

According to a probable cause affidavit, he was stopped Jan. 9 when a Beaumont officer noted the license plates came back as stolen. Police reportedly told him the truck was stolen, and he said he asked his aunt, who lives in the 2100 block of Euclid, if he could use the truck to go to the store, according to court documents.

He said she gave him the keys and told him to put gas in the truck.

On Jan. 27, police reportedly told Mayfield the address for his aunt was a vacant lot and they were not able to find a phone number of any information that she existed.

He told them he would get in touch with his aunt but didn’t have her phone number. The document says Mayfield was asked again to confirm the address where he got the vehicle but he could not.

That’s when police said he should go to the Southeast Texas Auto Theft Office and give a statement to clear his name. They allegedly gave him the address and he said he’d try to get his aunt to go with him. But he did not show up or contact the office.

Detectives said Mayfield’s story on how he came to possess the U-Hail was fabricated, the address he gave was fake and the aunt’s name is not associated with the address. In addition, the vehicle was never leased to him.

Mayfield was arrested Feb. 24 on a charge of unauthorized use of a vehicle with bond at $30,000. As of Friday he remained in the Jefferson County Jail.

 An indictment is not a final conviction of guilt; it is only a ruling by the grand jury that allows the district attorney’s office to proceed with a criminal case.