NATCHEZ — Natchez police have nabbed a suspect habitual car thief but say the man was at least generous, as he’d given one of the stolen cars to his mother.

Police allege Marlon D. Frye, 39, No. 9 Homewood Drive, stole at least three vehicles in the Jackson area, modified the cars’ identification numbers and brought the cars back to Natchez.

Frye was arrested and charged Monday with three counts of receiving stolen property.

Natchez Police Department Detective Jerry Ford said officers responded to a call of loitering at approximately 1:55 a.m. Monday on the 300 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Street.

An NPD officer, Ford said, spotted Frye driving a Ford F-150 and asked another officer on scene if he knew whose truck it was because he had seen Frye recently driving a Dodge Challenger.

“The officer got a little suspicious about it and one of the officers ran the tag on the vehicle, which came back pending,” Ford said. “The other officer had worked a different case where he ran a plate that came back pending and eventually found out the vehicle was stolen, so that kind of alerted them that something was going on.”

The officers spotted Frye and the truck later that morning at Club 601 on Martin Luther King Jr. Street.

Ford said Frye consented to a search of the truck, and officers eventually noticed two different vehicle identification numbers (VIN) on the truck.

“The one in the driver’s side door didn’t match up with the one that was in the windshield, and the one in the windshield appeared to have been altered,” Ford said. “When the officer ran both VINs, the one in the door came back showing the truck had been stolen out of Jackson.”

The officers arrested Frye, and Ford said they proceeded to a house they had seen Frye staying at recently hoping to find the Dodge Challenger they had seen him driving days before.

“The tag on the Challenger came back pending, and the VIN had been removed from the door and under the hood,” Ford said. “We brought the car back to the station, ran the VIN and it came back stolen from Jackson as well.”

Ford said the officers went to Frye’s Homewood Drive house Tuesday attempting to speak to his mother and looking for any other vehicles that might have been stolen.

“We ran across a Nissan Altima at the house, and when we got to questioning the mother about the car, she said her son had purchased the vehicle for her,” Ford said. “The VIN had been altered on the Altima and it came back that the car was stolen out of Flowood.”

NPD recovered all three vehicles, and investigators were in the process Thursday of finding the owners and returning the vehicles to them.

Ford said NPD investigators are also working with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, as they believe Frye has stolen two more vehicles — another Ford F-150 and Nissan Altima — that are still believed to be in the area.

Frye was being held Thursday without bail at the Natchez City Jail.

Anyone with information about the stolen vehicles is encouraged to contact Crime Stoppers at 601-442-5000.

Crime Stoppers offers a reward of up to $1,000 for a tip leading to the arrest and conviction of a suspect.

Callers may remain anonymous.