Owner of Charlotte dealership makes citizen’s arrest to stop alleged car thief

CHARLOTTE — The owner of a south Charlotte car dealership took matters into his own hands, performing a citizen’s arrest when he came across a man accused of stealing one of his cars.

On June 7, surveillance video captured the moment Jeffery Snipes turned from an alleged customer into a suspected thief.

In the video, Snipes peeled out of the parking lot of the used car dealership in a $30,000 Mercedes. A dealership worker ran after the car, nearly getting hit himself.

“He wanted to see the car,” Riyad Omar said.

Omar owns the CarFlex Auto off South Boulevard. He said 54-year-old Jeffery Snipes stole that Mercedes that day. Three days later, he got a call that it was found parked 2 miles away.

Omar rushed to the spot where it was found and called the police.

“All of a sudden he just showed up out of the woods,” he said.

After some back and forth, Omar said Snipes handed over the keys. But Omar wasn’t going to let Snipes get away.

“He gave me the key and he tried to run,” Omar said. “I said, ‘You’re not going anywhere! The police are coming and you’re not going nowhere.’”

That’s when Omar said he zip-tied Snipes’ wrists together, making a citizen’s arrest. You can see the red zip-tie in photos of Omar handing Snipes over to police.

“You have to take your chances sometimes,” Omar said.

It turns out Snipes has been arrested numerous times over the past few months. He’s accused of stealing cars in Rock Hill and Gaston, Cabarrus, and Mecklenburg counties.

Just last week, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said he’s the man who drove away from police towards Kannapolis, hopping out of a Lexus and slowly walking into the woods before officers caught up with him. Chopper 9 Skyzoom caught it all on video.

“It makes me angry. It makes me mad,” Omar said.

He’s thankful his employee wasn’t hurt on June 7, but he is furious that Snipes continues to get out of jail over and over again.

“He’s a repeated criminal. And he’s going to do it over and over again,” Omar said.

Snipes continues to either post bonds or get unsecured bonds, where he doesn’t have to pay a penny to get out.

Omar says he caused $8,000 of damage to his car and wants to see him held accountable.

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