CHARLOTTE, N.C.,None — Investigators with the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles are searching for a man accused of posing as one of their employees and trying to sell fake licenses.
Victims claim the suspect even wore a DMV T-shirt and had business cards.
According to a search warrant, the suspect lived at a home on Beech Nut Road in west Charlotte. But when an Eyewitness News crew went to the home, the windows were boarded up and no one was there.
The suddenly abandoned house even came as a shock to neighbors.
"A few days ago, it didn't look nothing like this," neighbor Jamie Taylor said. "It used to be about three kids playing in the yard and sometimes a momma would be sitting out there too."
A man neighbors knew as Ewin Lewis also lived at the home. But investigators with the NCDMV said the man wasn't who they thought he was. According to search warrants, the man's real name is Jaime Perez.
The 47-year-old is accused of posing as a DMV worker then promising to get people licenses in exchange for cash. Investigators said Perez managed to get hundreds of dollars from three different victims, but never delivered the licenses.
"It does surprise me that we would have a neighbor doing such a thing,” Neighbor Sharon Howard said.
After getting tipped off about Perez, investigators questioned him at his home on Valentine's Day. Eyewitness News has learned that Perez wasn't arrested because there wasn't enough evidence against him at the time. Investigators went back with a search warrant the next day and took several items from the home, but Perez had already left.
"I think that's terrible," Howard said. "At the same time, I'm glad he's gone because we don't need to draw negative attention to our community."
Jaime Perez is wanted for obtaining property by false pretenses and communicating threats.
WSOC
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/LH3JSJEF3VBLRJLJQESEAG34AM.png)
