Rob Ford’s car impounded in Muskoka, woman arrested: reports

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The brother of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford said he's "never heard of" the woman who was reportedly arrested for impaired driving behind the wheel of the mayor's car earlier this week.

CP24 reported Wednesday that a woman was charged with impaired driving in Muskoka Tuesday while driving Mayor Ford's SUV.

An Ontario Provincial Police news report said that 36-year-old Lee Anne McRobb of Muskoka Lakes Township is facing charges of impaired driving and driving with more than 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood after Bracebridge officers stopped her in a black Cadillac Escalade.

OPP officers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Globe and Mail has not confirmed that the vehicle she was driving was, in fact, Mayor Ford's Escalade.

An employee at Northland Towing & Recovery in Gravenhurst confirmed that the company towed a black Escalade from the same intersection Tuesday, but said the licence plates have been removed from the car.

Reporters at Muskoka's Moose FM reported that Ms. McRobb appeared at the towing shop Wednesday afternoon asking to retrieve some of her belongings from the vehicle.

During that incident, which the Moose FM reporters caught on video and posted online, a woman who says she was "arrested for drunk driving yesterday" tells a shop employee that she lost her watch, and that "I think it's in Rob Ford's room." When pressed by the reporters, she says she's "just kidding."

Matt Sitler, one of the Moose FM reporters who saw the incident, said the woman identified herself as "Leanne McRobb" when she walked into the shop, and told them that she's been in rehab with the mayor.

Councillor Doug Ford, the mayor's brother and campaign manager, said Wednesday evening he had been trying unsuccessfully to reach the mayor and the mayor's wife to confirm the news reports.

He said he did not know how the mayor's car got to cottage country.

"Obviously someone has his car," he said. "I have never heard of this person. I don't have a clue who they are… I don't know what is going on."

The mayor's lawyer Dennis Morris said he, too, was unaware of the reports. "This is all news to me. I know nothing about it," he said. "But I wouldn't know why I should, because he's not involved in any way," he said – noting that the media reports say the mayor himself is not believed to have been in the vehicle at the time.