INDIANAPOLIS — An Indianapolis man has been arrested and charged in four different instances of armed robbery this year.
Tre'Shaun Freeman, 27, is accused of brokering a fraudulent car sale in February that resulted in the theft of a car. He allegedly picked a friend up, made her go to an ATM to take out cash to buy a car and then stole that money from the victim at gunpoint.
Court records show Freeman was arrested and charged in that case in June but was released on bail less than two weeks later.
In September, and twice in November, Freeman is accused of contacting people selling cars through Facebook Marketplace and arranging a time to test drive the vehicles. Court documents show, in each of those instances, Freeman pulled out a gun and pointed it at the seller in the passenger seat during the test drive, before stealing the car.
Edgar Garcia and his friend attempted to sell their Dodge Durango on Facebook Marketplace last month. Court records show they came in contact with Freeman.
"He wanted to go for a test drive, checking out the car like usual," said Garcia, who wasn't in the car for the test drive, but his friend was.
"He gives me a call, 'Hey, they took my car, and I need you to come," Garcia said.
Court documents show Freeman pulled out a gun during the test drive and asked for the vehicle's title. When Garcia's friend refused to leave the car or give up the title, he was allegedly pistol-whipped in the nose before Freeman took off with the car.
"He was mad," Garcia said. "We work for our stuff and for it to get taken away like that is just not cool. Just didn't think we would get it back, but here it is."
He said he got the car back a few weeks after it was stolen.
IMPD said if you're buying or selling online, go to a public place, bring a phone and if you can, bring a friend. IMPD said you can use one of its district headquarters as a safe meeting spot for an online sale. If something seems off, they said you should call off the deal.
"Social media marketplace sales are a thing to do, delivery companies are how we navigate today. However, we still want folks to be safe as they're navigating those apps or delivery services," IMPD Ofc. William Young said.
Garcia said he'll still use Facebook Marketplace but be more careful moving forward.
"You just got to watch out, don't do deals at night," Garcia said. "Make sure you have someone else with you and go through the page and make sure it's the real deal."
Court records show Freeman was taken into custody driving one of those stolen cars last week. He's being held without bond at the Marion County Jail.