A man was robbed at gunpoint on May 16 inside of the Marquee parking garage after being lured by an unknown suspect to complete an auto service call, according to the Orange Country Sheriff’s Office.
On the day of the robbery, the deputies talked to the apartment security and learned that only management is able to access the security camera footage and that this particular footage wouldn’t be available until May 18. KnightNews.com asked the sheriff’s office if a copy of the video footage was obtained but did not hear back.
The victim works as a mobile mechanic by trade. Days before the incident, deputies said the victim had a dispute with a customer named James Joseph over the cost of an estimated repair.
The victim received a call on the on May 16 from an unknown number saying that their Toyota Corolla was overheating and that it needed to be fixed. The unknown suspect told the victim that his Corolla was located on the seventh floor of the Marquee parking garage and that he would meet him at the entrance of the garage, according to the incident report obtained by KnightNews.com.
The suspect told the victim that he was a black male and would be wearing a dark multi-colored shirt and tan cargo shorts.
When the victim arrived at the garage, deputies said the unknown suspect hopped into the back of his truck. On the way to the seventh floor, the victim was seeing fewer and fewer cars, and none that looked like a Toyota Corolla.
In between the sixth and seventh floor, the victim stated that a white Honda CRV driven by James Joseph, his past customer, cut him off and blocked his repair truck, according to the incident report.
After that, deputies said the unknown suspect got out of the back of the truck and hit the victim in the face with a black semi-automatic pistol saying, “You robbed my brother so I’m going to rob you”. The unknown suspect then demanded that the victim empty his wallet and hand over his phone. The victim handed over $130 dollars and his iPhone 6 and case (together valued at $685), according to the incident report.
According to the incident report, the unknown suspect then entered the white Honda CRV with Joseph. Before leaving the scene, the unknown male told the victim that if he called the police, he would find his address through his license plate and shoot him, the report stated.
The victim told deputies that he is in fear for his life and the life of his family’s. When the victim was with Joseph earlier, Joseph pointed out the white CRV and told him, “I hope you can fix this car because I don’t like driving my mother’s car around”.
A 14-year-old boy was with the victim at the time but was not threatened or hurt during the time of the incident, according to the report.
The unknown suspect has not yet been identified.
