Yahoo Autos Car Dealership Owner Arrests Thief
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Fed up with the justice system failing to stop thieves, a car dealership owner performed a citizen’s arrest on a man he says stole a $30,000 used Mercedes from him. Even though he performed the dramatic action, the dealership owner doesn’t sound horribly optimistic about the thief facing real consequences.
Armed robbers leave note in stolen car to mock police.
The theft originally happened back in June when 54-year-old Jeffery Snipes allegedly acted interested in the Mercedes. However, once he had access to the luxury sedan and keys, he took off from the lot, almost hitting an employee who tried stopping him.
Riyad Omar, who owns CarFlex in Charlotte, North Carolina was informed through a phone call three days later the Mercedes was spotted parked a mere two miles away from the dealership, says WRAL. In other words, Snipes didn’t take the vehicle far after swiping it.
Anxious to recoup his losses, Omar hurried to the location while calling police. When he arrived he saw Snipes and confronted the man. After a verbal exchange, Snipes reportedly handed over the keys t the Mercedes but was about to take off when Omar grabbed him and zip-tied the accused thief’s hands together.
We don’t really hear about citizen’s arrests these days, but Omar made one, waiting for the police to arrive before handing Snipes over. Even though he went through all that trouble, Omar told WRAL he’s not optimistic that Snipes will face much in the way of consequences, claiming the man is “a repeated criminal” who will “do it over and over again.”
Since we’ve seen a number of car thieves who steal and steal, get caught, then the day they get out of jail start stealing again we know what Omar’s talking about. In the meantime, he says Snipes did $8,000 in damage to the Mercedes. We suppose that’s better than the $30,000 never being recovered, but that still has to hurt.
Image via WRAL
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