Second arrest made after dealership helps track down carjacked vehicle

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Police said a second arrest has been made after a woman was carjacked at gunpoint at an uptown Charlotte gas station last month.

Staff at a local dealership who sold the woman her car went to great lengths to help track it down. The stolen car was found nearly 100 miles away.

James Oxendine Jr. and James Ross have both been charged in connection with the carjacking.

The victim told the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department she ran into a Mobil on West Trade Street. She left her car running because a friend was inside. A man reportedly forced her friend out at gunpoint and stole the vehicle.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police released 911 calls from the incident, which gave a better idea of exactly what happened.

"I'm at the gas station. My passenger was in the car, a gentleman pulled up, put a gun to her head, and told her to get out of the car," the victim said to a 911 dispatcher. "We're scared. They have a gun.

“I turned on WSOC and I just saw a small blip about a carjacking, and they said it was a Malibu,” said James Charles, general manager at Kiplin Auto.

[RELATED COVERAGE: Armed thief forces woman out of car at uptown Charlotte gas station]

The carjacking got the attention of Charles as he watched Eyewitness News Monday morning because, as general manager of Kiplin Auto, he knows the dealership has sold a lot of Chevy Malibus.

"I thought, ‘Man, I hope that’s not... wasn’t one of our customers,’" Charles said.

It was, in fact, one of Kiplin’s customers. The woman who owns the vehicle called the dealership Monday afternoon to ask if staff could help track down the vehicle with GPS technology.

“She said she’d been carjacked, and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s what I saw this morning on the news,’” Charles said.

Staff at the dealership on Brookshire Boulevard quickly logged into the tracking system and saw the car was in Columbia, South Carolina, which was 92 miles from where it was stolen.

Staff immediately called CMPD.

“They just said, ‘We can’t help you. You have to call Columbia,’” Charles said.

They then called police in Columbia.

“The officers asked how to describe the car and we told them, ‘Just look for the Kiplin sticker,’” Charles said.

Columbia police spotted the car and said the driver led them on a chase before crashing into a brick mailbox at a senior citizen's home.

Police said 17-year-old Oxendine Jr.,  was driving the car and tried to run, but officers caught him and found a gun.

About a month after Oxendine's arrest, officers also charged Ross in connection with the carjacking.

(Oxendine and Ross)

“It was absolutely surprising,” Charles said. “I was just happy to help.”

The woman who owns the car did not want to be interviewed but told Eyewitness News anchor Liz Foster on the phone she's thankful she and her friend were not hurt.

Staff at the dealership told Channel 9 some lenders require a GPS tracker as an anti-theft device, as well as asset protection for the lender. They said customers who buy a car with it, sign paperwork stating they know it's there.

Cox Media Group