Tow truck driver accused of stealing fatal crash victim's bank card

Giovanni Canicatti racks up $1,748 in charges, deputies say

DeLAND, Fla. – A local tow truck driver is accused of stealing a fatal crash victim's credit card when he towed the vehicle and using it to rack up $1,748 worth of charges, according to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office. 

When 60-year-old Robert Sullivan died Oct. 26 in a crash in DeLand, Johnny's Autobody employee Giovanni Canicatti, 33, came to tow the vehicle away from the scene, but deputies said he took something extra: the bank card from Sullivan's wallet.

The victim's wife, Elizabeth Sullivan, was still in the hospital when family members went to Johnny's Autobody in Orange City to collect Sullivan's belongings. Sullivan noticed the bank card was missing from her late husband's wallet, and when she checked with her bank she realized it'd been used four times in the two days after her husband's death. 

One of the charges was at a car dealership, where deputies said Canicatti ordered a license plate bracket and a steering wheel for his Chevrolet Impala. He used a fake name but his real phone number to place the order, authorities said. 

Deputies used the phone number to track down Canicatti. He was arrested Wednesday when his girlfriend went to pick up the car parts.

Deputies said Canicatti confessed to using Sullivan's bank card to order the car parts, make two car payments and make a payment to a furniture rental business. 

News 6 spoke with a remorseful Canicatti outside his Orange City home, shortly after he bonded out of jail and asked him why he did it.

"I was just trying to pay my car. That was the main concern was the car payments," he​ said.

Deputies said Canicatti used the card four times after Sullivan's death, spending close to $1,800 on his car and a furniture rental place.

"I was saying to myself, should I do it, should I not do it and I just went for it. I said on this side, I knew I was going to get caught," said Canicatti.

"I've never been in trouble with the law, this is the first time I've been in trouble," he said.

Canicatti said he has a message for Sullivan's wife, who remains in the hospital.

"I apologize for what I've done. I had no right going into her possessions and touching something that wasn't mine," he said.

Canicatti is charged with grand theft, illegal use of a credit card and unlawful possession of personal identification. 

 


About the Authors:

Loren Korn is a native Texan who joined the News 6 team as a reporter in May 2014. She was born and raised in Houston and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Journalism.

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