HOBART | A 21-year-old New Chicago man bragged to a friend he had stolen a car in Gary then pushed it in a Hobart lake, police said.

Rusty Lee Windsor was charged Wednesday with auto theft in Lake County court.

The stolen 2003 Oldsmobile Alero was discovered Feb. 29, purposely pushed into a community lake inside Hidden Lake subdivision, Hobart police Lt. Steve Houck said.

Police and firefighters converged on Edgewater Drive following a report of a submerged vehicle. The car was not submerged and no one was inside.

The owner of the Alero told police he was at the Pilot truck stop, 2501 Burr St., Gary, and had left the engine running. The vehicle was stolen, he said, when he went inside to pay for gas.

On March 12, Hobart police received a tip from an unknown female who said Windsor had bragged to her about the crime.

When talking with Windsor's mother, police learned Windsor had come home in the early morning hours of Feb. 29 driving an unknown car. He told his mother he had borrowed the car from a girlfriend, police said.

Police also learned that the 1994 Chevrolet Cavalier that Windsor had been driving had been towed the night of the car theft, court records indicate.