After carjacking, Des Moines police urge caution when selling items on Facebook Marketplace
Des Moines police are urging caution when selling items on Facebook Marketplace after a 19-year-old woman was robbed at gunpoint during a car sale in a Des Moines parking lot on Sunday.
"There's risks that come with it, no matter how many precautions you take. Because, essentially, you're dealing with a stranger," said Sgt. Paul Parizek of the Des Moines Police.
The woman was trying to sell a 2017 Dodge Challenger when a stranger asked to test drive it. "As soon as he put it in drive, he took off out of the parking lot," Parizek said.
The woman told police the suspect pointed a gun at her and told her to get out of the car a few blocks away. Officers said the vehicle the suspect arrived in also took off. As police began their search for the suspect, someone called about that vehicle being spotted miles away near Dowling Catholic High School.
They used license plate recognition camera images to track that car to an address in Ames, where officers arrested a 17-year-old. They found the Charger, too, but it was heavily damaged.
"And our detectives let me know that the family is extremely traumatized by this," Parizek said.
Parizek advised that there is a smart way to sell expensive items on Facebook Marketplace. "Pick a place like our police station, you know, come to the police station, we've got cameras, there's cops all over the place. And any criminal that comes here wants to try and commit a crime is probably making the big mistake, right, with their first step there," he said.
Police said the teenage suspect also had a stolen gun and was using stolen license plates.
"We've got a lot of juveniles in our community that are making bad decisions, and a lot of it is because they're immature and they don't think beyond the end of that gun," Parizek said.
Des Moines police said teamwork within their department, along with Westcom and Ames police, helped find the suspect. The 17-year-old is charged with first-degree robbery, and police said he could soon be charged as an adult.
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