A man walked into a Newnan bank last week and handed the teller a note that said, “Keep me safe.” Now, two men are charged with kidnapping him.
The Coweta County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the incident Wednesday, saying deputies responded to a Wells Fargo on Amlajack Boulevard and quickly stopped the suspects a block away. Their arrests were caught on body camera footage that was released to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday.
Deputies spoke with the kidnapping victim, who said two men — identified as 33-year-old Gabriel Lawrence and 38-year-old Terrence McPherson — picked him up in Atlanta after asking him if he wanted to make a couple of hundred dollars, sheriff’s office spokesperson Toby Nix said.
The men drove around Atlanta for an extended time, and the victim tried to get out of the vehicle twice while it was stopped at traffic lights, according to investigators. But he was unable to exit due to the child safety locks being engaged in the back seat.
Credit: Coweta County Sheriff's Office
The group eventually ended up at a gas station in Newnan, Nix said. While there, Lawrence went into the convenience store and came out with a check for $1,467 and handed it to the victim, according to the sheriff’s office.
The victim was told to walk inside the bank, cash the check, walk back out and give a signal indicating he had the cash.
Instead, the victim went inside, wrote his plea for help on a note and handed it to the teller.
Both Lawrence and McPherson were arrested and charged with false imprisonment, kidnapping, fourth-degree forgery and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
McPherson is additionally charged with theft by receiving stolen property and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
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