Fayetteville man arrested, charged with obtaining property by false pretenses
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- Fayetteville police have arrested a man after they say his alleged victims were tricked into thinking they were getting cars that didn't exist.
"It was very convincing..." said Gatha Chapel of Fayetteville.
Gatha Chapel says she's out $1,900 after a friend introduced her to Jarvis Samuel over the phone. She claims Samuel did different voices, at times posing as a lawyer, a millionaire and even a woman named "Cindy" to convince her to buy three cars and sign what she calls a fake modeling contract. Chapel says she told police that she believes the phony modeling contract was just part of a scheme to dupe her into sending photos of herself in her underwear. This happened she says when he apparently claimed to be an attorney named "Thomas."
"Thomas said his daughters even took advantage of it so that was more convincing. His daughter's taking advantage of this opportunity? Why not?" Chapel said.
Jasmine Wilson has similar claims.
She says she sent Samuel $500 for what she thought was going to be a down payment on a car for her husband's birthday. Once Wilson and Chapel realized that none of these things apparently existed, they called the Fayetteville police and Samuel was arrested last Monday. But Wilson says she still feels vulnerable.
"A lot of us have given this man our personal information," Wilson said.
Fayetteville police say since this past June eight alleged victims have come forward to their department claiming similar stories about how they lost money in similar situations. But they believe there may be as many as 20 victims in this case. They say two other victims have also come forward to the police in Spring Lake and Hope Mills. Samuel has not been charged in any additional cases in Fayetteville, Spring Lake and Hope Mills and ABC11 does not know if police are pursuing additional charges against him.
"If someone is selling you that vehicle, we would ask that you do a little bit more in-depth research, said Detective Jennifer Kelly of the Fayetteville police. "If they're just sending you pictures saying this is the car that I have, you can always search that photo."
Samuel is out on bond but is expected back in court in Cumberland County on February 27 on five counts of obtaining property under false pretenses. ABC11 reached out to Samuel but he has not responded at this time.
