We previously discussed the horrific abduction of Carlesha Freeland-Gaither from a street in Philadelphia and the fear that such an offender would be unlikely to leave the 22-year-old nurse alive. It was wonderful news last night therefore to learn that Carlesha had been rescued by federal officers and is now at home with her family. The alleged abductor is Delvin Barnes, 37, who has a long history of violence against women and other crimes. Notably, however, it was not his criminal recidivism but his bad debt that proved his undoing.
Barnes was captured (and Carlesha rescued) in the same Ford Taurus shown on the videotape from the abduction. Police then released photos from a cash machine and a store as they closed in on Barnes. He was finally tracked down in a Jessup, Maryland, parking lot Wednesday afternoon. Carlesha was injured but listed in otherwise good condition.
Notably, the authorities were able to track the Taurus through a GPS device placed inside the vehicle by the car dealership. Barnes, not surprisingly, has bad credit and the GPS is a standard protection for car dealers.
Barnes has a long record. He is actually being held on an warrant for attempted murder of a 16-year-old girl last month in Charles City County, Virginia. He was arrested in in November 2005 on a slew of charges including rape, burglary, aggravated assault, making terroristic threats and reckless endangerment. He was accused of beating, sexual assaulting, and holding captive his estranged wife (and mother of his child) who was under a protection order. After the woman was able to call her parents, they ran to the house only to be beaten by Barnes. He was eventually found guilty of aggravated assault, criminal trespassing, false imprisonment and related charges. That was just nine years ago this month.
Only two weeks ago, Virginia officials dropped charges against Barnes for making a bomb threat. It was later reduced to mere trespassing and then dropped entirely. It is not clear what was involved in that charge but there is a report that four days later Barnes was linked in Charles City County, Virginia to the abduction, rape and torture of a 16-year-old girl. She was later found naked, bloody and covered in burns smelling of bleach and gasoline. DNA linked the crime to Barnes.
Given that history, there is even greater reason to celebrate the survival of Carlesha though this harrowing and traumatic experience will no doubt leave lasting emotional scars. However, she is back with her family which worked so hard to find her.
As for Barnes, he is unlikely to be ever free again. Yet, there remains questions of how an individual with such proven violent propensities was able to stay at large while moving in and out of the criminal justice system.
Source: NBC
DBQ, I have gotten to know some repo men in my years. I know your husband has some good stories, just like us PI’s.
The issue with the drug users is often an issue of going back to the same area to live so the environment hasn’t changed for them. Can’t imagine being able to force them to live where we want vs where they go. True of the non prison pop too. Zdont want to change the habits you will get into trouble but when it effects others the way criminals do Id like to see rehab being q requirement.
(YW BBQ and Nick ((*_*)))
Good link leej !!
I should have read it before I posted my last comment.
@ Paul
I would think that if I held a lien on the car that I would be allowed to protect my interest in the car.
Yes. I think so too. My question though is does the buyer KNOW that the GPS system will be able to track their movements or that there even IS a GPS on the vehicle. Disclosure? That might make a big deal of difference in using the car to do …..ahem…..certain activities if you know that you can be traced.
My husband in his younger days, long before I knew him, was a repo man. Long before anything like GPS existed. Skip tracing and then retrieving the vehicle, boat, RV. He has some really awesome, funny and scary stories about those times. I would imagine that having GPS or lo-jack systems would have been a godsend in those times.
DBQ – I do not think you are obligated to tell the buyer that the tracker is there, but you are obligated to take it off once the car is paid off.
leej, Leavenworth had some real iron pumpers. I understand the trepidations about bad men getting pumped up in prison. But, from the perspective of someone working inside the joint, it does give men a nonviolent and positive way to channel that testosterone energy. I often hear the complaint about prisoners getting pumped up in prison. I am not unsympathetic. But, most of the complaints come from women. They are too often the victims of these stronger men. However, they have little understanding of a testosterone filled prison and just what it’s like. Now there are female guards. There weren’t back in the 70’s. I would be very interested in their opinion.
leej, Good link. Thanks.
leej, I’m not just talking about “bad guys” when I said people need to want to help themselves. I’m talking people w/ drug/alcohol issues, people w/ health issues requiring lifestyle changes, etc. You can inform people about the risks of their behavior. Give them opportunities to change their behavior, but it’s the old, “You can lead a horse to water..”
DBQ found this article re the GPS: http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/autos/used-car-dealers-secret-weapon-a-gps-for-the-repo-man/2133668
The latest trend in the used car business: Buy a car, get a GPS, too.
The twist is you may never know about it.
DBQ, Regarding your last question, I am pretty sure that since the cops didn’t place the device, only use it, that evidence should be righteous. But, as you know I am a lowly “sewer worker” not an attorney. You’ve probably heard of lojack GPS. Cops use that all the time to locate stolen vehicles. SCOTUS ruled, in a diverse opinion, that long term use of GPS was a violation of the 4th Amendment. From what I remember cops put GPS on a drug dealer, w/o a warrant, and tracked him over time. SCOTUS ruled that unconstitutional .
Nick, I think it should be mandated, they have to get the education and have to take the classes. Maybe a part of parole system. I don’t know any bad guys, to my knowledge, or if they were they are no more ((*_*)) so no first hand knowledge but maybe a carrot stick of skills and education to get them to do what they need to to actually have a chance of being productive when they get out would make a difference. The jails are filled with way too many recidivists. I have to wonder if some would have gone on a different path of they had been required to leave jail with a skill. (And since jail is not a choice I would think you could enforce education as a part of what they have to do instead of just hanging out in gyms and getting stronger and stronger)
I have an actual legal question here. Did this guy KNOW that there was a GPS chip in his car? Do the car dealerships routinely do this for cars on which they are “holding the paper”, meaning protecting their collateral? I don’t blame them, it is hard to get your collateral back if the buyer defaults on their loan. If a GPS is standard, do they notify the buyer that their car has a GPS tracking system? Is this legal?
I haven’t bought a ‘new’ car in years and years and don’t have any sort of GPS in our various vehicles. There is no point. GPS doesn’t recognize our area (it gives really screwy directions and sends you out into the middle of a forest or leaves you stranded and wondering WTF? surrounded by miles of farmland ) I use Mapquest if I’m going someplace down in the cities that I haven’t been before and avoid areas that I know to be dicey. Plus. I don’t want anyone tracking my movements just on general principles. However…..I do know that rental cars do this in a logical effort to protect their inventory and that doesn’t bother me when I rent.
Could it be something weird like having an illegal tracking system in his car that might let this guy off instead of going to jail??
DBQ – I would think that if I held a lien on the car that I would be allowed to protect my interest in the car. I do know that many rental car companies use lo-jack systems that can shut the car off if you go past the time you were to return the car.
leej, Having worked in a prison I can tell you most offer decent to good opportunities for inmates to better themselves. Leavenworth had a shoe and furniture factory. They made shoes for the military and govt. furniture. There were educational opportunities, drug/alcohol treatment, AA and NA groups. There were chaplains and varied religious services. But, you are a common sense person. It doesn’t matter if a person is an inmate or a person in the community. You can’t help someone who won’t help themselves. I saw inmates take advantage of the opportunities in Leavenworth, and I saw guys who would do the minimal work, sweeping the floors in their cell block, and spend the rest of the day looking for ways to make money illegally.
“Rehabilitation” generally means “learn how to lie effectively at the parole hearing”, according to a cousin who was second in command of a state prison system.
Issac- I am so sorry – but my tax dollars do not go to rehab murderous thugs to become rehabilitated but to be punished, they can ask for repentance from the Lord.
If they are going to get out of prison I think it is worth taxmoney to rehabilitate as well as punish, no rehabilitate then they go out and have nothing on which to fall back but more crime. I personally think that it should be mandatory they get their GED if they have not graduated and learn a trade or a skill from which they could earn a living. It is short sighted to say lock em up and if the key isn’t thrown away I don’t care what society gets when they are released
Speak for yourself, Kenneth.
“What’s the frequency, Kenneth?”