Police say a meeting to finalize a Craigslist sale did not go as planned – and left one man without his motorcycle.
Andrew Wallace of Rogersville told city police he came to Elizabethton on April 14 to meet an unknown man at Zoomers on Broad Street at around 8:37 p.m. to trade his 2003 Kawasaki Ninja 250 motorcycle for a Chevrolet Ventura van.
He told police the unknown man took the motorcycle for a test drive, leaving the van in the parking lot, and never returned.
Wallace told Elizabethton Police Department Capt. Anthony Buck on Friday, April 18, that he met the unknown man in Elizabethton because the man said he did not have insurance or tags on the van.
When Buck questioned Wallace about why he did not call 911 when the incident happened, Wallace reportedly said he had to be home by 10 p.m. or he would have violated his probation.
Wallace also told police he waited for an hour for the man to return but he did not before he had to leave. He said he did not get any names or identification from the man, who reportedly said “All the police knew him.”
Wallace told Buck he had called the Carter County Sheriff’s Department on the way home and was told the owner listed on the motorcycle’s title would have to file the report with the EPD. Wallace returned to the EPD with the listed owner, from whom he had purchased the motorcycle around three weeks ago.
Buck reported asking Wallace about how he had brought the motorcycle from Rogersville to Elizabethton, how he planned to get the van home and why he had not tried to contact the unknown man.
According to the report, Wallace said he was afraid the unknown man would harm the motorcycle and wanted the police to make the call. The report stated the EPD made multiple attempts to contact the unknown man but were not successful.
The unknown man was described as being in his late 20s, white with shoulder-length blonde hair. He was also around 5’9”, described as “heavy and stocky” with big-gauge earrings.
The van left by the man was a 1999-2001 blue Chevrolet Ventura van with faded paint on the doors.