Man's stolen car found parked at his workplace leads police to other theft victims

Three people – two men and a juvenile – were arrested and linked to a string of car thefts after they were spotted on surveillance video leaving a stolen Mercedes Benz in a Walmart parking lot.

Gerald Moore, an employee of the Gillespie Street Walmart in Fayetteville, didn't make it to work on Sept. 17 because his car was stolen. After reporting the theft, he got another call – his boss wanted to know why he wasn't at work after she had seen the car in the Walmart parking lot.

Sgt. Alpha Caldwell of the Fayetteville Police Department said surveillance video showed Moore's 1999 Mercedes Benz S320 in the parking lot, and three men, none of them Moore, getting out.

When police arrived the trio was still in the stolen car, and they were arrested.

Breslin Currie, 24, and Motavis Freeman, 20, face charges of breaking and entering a motor vehicle, larceny of a motor vehicle, larceny of a firearm, financial card theft and fraud, felony possession of stolen goods, conspiracy and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Police also got a custody petition for the third person, a juvenile.

In the car, investigators found credit card and driver’s licenses. When they contacted the people named on the cards, they too reported having vehicles stolen. Police have linked the suspects to about a dozen more auto break-ins and the theft of at least one other car.

They expect to file more charges against the men as the investigation continues, and Caldwell said there could be more arrests.