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Update: Mystery Machine Driver Who Eluded Police By Abandoning Van Turns Self In to Get Van Back

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And she would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for that pesky impound lot.

So, remember two weeks ago, when a woman wanted for violating her probation became the target of a police chase when she ran from cops in a van painted like the Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo? If you don’t, then just know that at the time, she abandoned the van and eluded police, but the van was found and impounded.

Well, now the driver, 51-year-old Sharon Turman, has been captured, although not through some elaborate scheme involving her chasing teenagers while dressed as a yeti. Turman eventually turned herself in for one reason—to get her van back. She was subsequently booked on charges of recklessly evading a law enforcement officer, driving on a suspended license, violating a court order, and violating probation.

However, that’s not the best thing about this arrest: police were finally able to reveal why Turman had painted her van like the Mystery Machine: to avoid the cops. Apparently, Turman actually isn’t at all familiar with Scooby Doo, but some friends told her that it would be a good idea to do so. From the Redding Police Department news release: “She felt that by calling her van the Mystery Machine she would be able to elude capture by law enforcement if she was ever pulled over.”

Turman's Mystery Machine

Clearly, this was a fool-proof plan
Image: Madison Wade

I can’t fathom what Turman thought would make police leave her alone while she was driving the Mystery Machine. Perhaps she thought that an officer, pulling Turman and the Mystery Machine over, would look at her van and say, “Scooby Doo! That’s my favorite show!” and then be so overwhelmed that he returns to his squad car to try to find somewhere that sells Scooby Snacks, leaving Turman to go on her merry (and not terribly lawful) way.

Then again, I wonder if that’s how Scooby and the gang never got in trouble for their vigilante justice (I mean, I know the ’60s and ’70s were a different time, but you would think there’d be an episode where the gang ends up going to court to help convict these guys).

News Sources: Redding Police Department, KRCR News, Fox News