On-Air Photo Leads To Fraud Arrest

CHARLOTTE, N.C.,None — A man wanted on a string of fraud charges from Charlotte to Rock Hill is now in the Mecklenburg County Jail.

Police arrested 42-year-old Edward McClain early Thursday morning after getting a tip from someone who saw McClain's picture on Eyewitness News.

Eyewitness News reporter Mark Becker has spent several days investigating the claims of people who say McClain took hundreds of dollars to fix their cars and then disappeared.

Frank Hunter said McClain targeted him in the parking lot of an auto parts store in north Charlotte and offered to help fix his BMW.

"Next thing you know he says, ‘You've got problems here, you've got problems there,'" Hunter said.

Over the next several weeks, Hunter paid McClain upfront for repairs he said were never finished. He said he probably gave McClain about $900.

"It cost me a lot of money and nothing done," he said.

Hunter's neighbor, Kim Grimes, has a similar story. She said her and her husband paid McClain $700 work on their pickup.

"We came home one day and the truck was gone," Grimes said. "I spent the next nine or ten days trying to reach him on his cell phone, which I could never get him to answer."

Then, Ken Grimes said he found out that for some reason, McClain had towed his truck to a local garage and left it there.

Detectives in Charlotte signed warrants for McClain's arrest, and so did police in Matthews and Rock Hill.

Eyewitness News found the mobile home in Fort Mill that was McClain's last address, but no one was around.

Police said they had heard he was staying at area motels, but hadn't been able to locate him.

Hours after Eyewitness News started airing McClain's picture in promotions for this report, someone called police. McClain was arrested shortly after at a motel in Pineville.

McClain is being held in the Mecklenburg County Jail and faces misdemeanor charges. Because he also faces charges in South Carolina, his bond is set at more than $100,000.

WSOC