Teen jailed after using stolen cards to rent $240K car

SANTA ROSA, Calif. — A Sonoma County teenager remained jailed Sunday after he was arrested on suspicion of using stolen credit cards to rent a $240,000 sports car and a $12 million vacation home.

Mohanned Halaweh, 19, was arrested Wednesday after he was pulled over while driving the 2012 McLaren coupe he had rented for $13,000 and was subsequently reported stolen by its owner, Sonoma County Sheriff’s Sgt. Michael Raasch tells the San Francisco Chronicle.

Halaweh also paid $27,000 to rent an estate in Glen Ellen, Raasch said.

Prosecutors have charged him with four felonies — credit card fraud, receiving stolen property, identity theft and vehicle theft — along with an enhancement charge of being in possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

Another 19-year-old man who was a passenger in the McLaren also was arrested and could face charges, Raasch said.

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat identified Halaweh as a former standout basketball player at a Sebastopol high school.

In March, he was charged with allegedly using a fake credit card to try to buy 14 iPhones and two laptop computers at an Apple Store in Berkeley, the Press-Democrat said.

Halaweh is being held at the Sonoma County jail on $100,000 bail. He has not yet entered a plea and is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.

A phone number for Halaweh’s family in Rohnert Park was disconnected.