FBI Visits Four Charlotte Car Dealerships, Seize Files

FBI agents moved in and employees stood back at four Harrelson dealerships along South Boulevard. VIDEO: FBI Agents Storm Four Charlotte Car Dealerships

Federal agents loaded box after box of files from Harrelson Suzuki, Harrelson Ford, Harrelson Mazda, and Harrelson Hyundai onto a U-Haul truck.

Funzel Poage said his early morning car-shopping trip to Harrelson Ford took a strange twist when he was hustled out of the show room by FBI agents.

"When I walked in there, they asked me to step out. Then I saw the FBI agents running in there. I didn't know what it was so I decide to come on home," he said.

Poage said he was asked to leave and the employees were asked to stay put by the agents.

It happened the same way with the other dealerships along South Boulevard.

Poage said he didn't know that trying to buy a new car would be a challenge.

"Any time the FBI comes up, you get kind of nervous, like, 'What's going on?'" he said.

The FBI said they were executing searches of the four dealerships but wouldn't release information about what they were looking for. But inside the dealerships, you could see the agents typing on keyboards and going through filing cabinets.

Poage said he didn't know what the FBI was looking for, but he probably wouldn't be back.

The dealerships are still open for business even though the FBI took down the computer systems.

Harrelson's attorney, Peter Anderson, said the warrants don't center on the owner, Louis F. Harrleson.

The FBI search warrant won't be unsealed until the federal government is ready to press charges.