By Chris Cosci

A man walks into a car dealership. He has a checkbook, no driver's license and only $900 in his checking account. He goes up to the dealer and says he wants to buy a car. He offers to write a personal check for over $91,000.

Sounds like the setup for a joke, doesn't it? Here's the punch line: the dealer accepts the check, and the man drives away with a new Porsche 911. Still sound like a joke? Well, it isn't. This actually happened at a car dealership in Ohio. The man is Troy Garrett. Sure enough, with less than $1,000 in his checking account and no driver's license, he drove off with a new Porsche, leaving the dealer with an uncashable check for $91,525.25.

After such a tremendous success, what was Garrett going to do next? He was going to Disney World! Well, maybe not Disney World, but he did drive to Florida. And while in Florida, he continued his hot streak by signing contracts for a $300,000 boat and a $2.5 million home. Funny, I would usually need some actual money to get these kinds of things. I must be doing something wrong.

Of course, Garrett's plans did have one minor setback: they were illegal. Eventually, the law did catch up with him. Two days after Garrett drove off in his Porsche, the dealership received a call from the bank. Apparently, the bank had the sophisticated, high-end technology needed to pick up on the slight discrepancy between the check amount and Garrett's actual funds.

Based on this information, an arrest warrant was issued. Garrett was tracked down and finally arrested a week later in Fort Walton Beach, FL for theft and writing a bad check. It's a good thing they found him in time. If they waited any longer, he may have actually bought the entire state.

So, how did Garrett manage to convince the Porsche dealership to accept the check in the first place? According to his lawyer, "Mr. Garrett entered the dealership, said he was a government worker and he didn't have identification because he didn't need it." To which the dealer obviously replied, "okay." It seems that government employees are given a lot more leeway than I thought. I can't even get a library card without a photo ID and proof of residency.

Beneath the surface of this story lies what could be a heartwarming message. After all, in order to accept Garrett's story, the dealer had to show a great level of trust in his fellow man. A situation like this could certainly restore one's faith in humanity. If one car dealer can be trusting enough to accept a $91,000 check based on nothing but the word of a "government worker" with no identification, then maybe goodness does prevail.

But before you accept this glorious view of the world, you need to know that the story doesn't end there. After being arrested, Garrett returned the car back to the dealership without a scratch. He is also said to suffer from a delusional disorder. And while Garrett was ordered to take his medication and receive psychiatric treatment, the dealership still decided to press charges. Ah, sweet reality.

Okay, the dealership is well within its rights to press charges. After all, this guy did write a phony check and drive off with a very expensive car. On the other hand, the dealership didn't exactly show a good deal of business sense. They accepted the check without confirming Garrett's identification. They didn't call a bank to confirm the checking account information. They didn't make a single phone call to confirm Garrett's story. They just accepted his word and the check, and let him drive off... with a Porsche. Even if they win the case, they'll come out looking worse than Garrett.

After all is said and done, we can learn a lot from this tale. For starters, there are still a lot of trusting people out there. But once you betray that trust, they will hunt you down like the sadistic animal you are. Also, if you can't afford the things you want, you can always get a job with the government. They can apparently get away with anything.