A tough-up Detroit man who was stunned with $100,000 for being good to an influencer was later kidnapped, crushed and left tied up inside a burning automotive by a few of his personal family members making an attempt to steal his windfall, in line with cops.
Curtis Dixon had been planning to pawn his wedding ceremony ring to pay payments final month when he unknowingly bumped into Zach Dereniowski, a TikTokker with 24 million viewers who was pretending to be blind.
Dereniowski stunned him with $1,000 for serving to him — then organized a GoFundMe that raised $100,000 and helped purchase Dixon a brand new automotive.
However the aged man’s tears of pleasure was a nightmare when his nephew, Roland Terrell Chatmon, allegedly hatched a plan to steal his uncle’s windfall, in line with a felony grievance.
That plot additionally performed on Dixon’s generosity, with a lady stopping him on Sept. 1 and pretending to have automotive hassle, the grievance mentioned.
Dixon kindly supplied to drive the lady, later recognized as Lecia Lopez Martinez, to a house — when an armed man and girl got here as much as his truck and demanded cash “or they might kill his spouse,” the grievance mentioned.
He was then tied up at the back of his personal automotive and pushed to a number of ATMs the place the suspects bought him to withdraw $4,400 from his accounts, in line with the 27-page grievance, first obtained by Fox 2 Detroit.
Dixon was pushed to his house, the place the suspects tied up his spouse and stole a secure. As soon as she managed to get free, she referred to as the police — who discovered Dixon tied up close to his burning GMC Yukon, with witnesses saying they’d discovered him inside however pulled him out to security.
The plot was partially revealed when Chatmon referred to as his brother, an inmate on the county jail, and bragged about eager to “flip a hustle” on his uncle, the affidavit mentioned.
“I would like some racks actual fast,” Chatmon allegedly mentioned in regards to the cash.
Utilizing cellular phone data and ATM surveillance footage, authorities tracked down the suspects after the kidnapping, they mentioned within the grievance.
Chatmon, Martinez, Kenneth Paul Anderson in addition to Ieasha Stroman and her spouse Dnequia Stroman have been every arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping.
Dixon had bought his windfall when Dereniowski pretended to want assist — then mentioned he was doing so to seek out “the primary sort individual to be good” to provide $1,000 to.
After studying about Dixon’s monetary troubles — and that he deliberate to pawn his wedding ceremony ring to cowl a utility invoice — Dereniowski organized a GoFundMe that raised over $1000,000 and purchased him a brand new automotive.
In follow-up clip posted on-line, Dixon breaks down crying and hugs his household when the influencer fingers him the life-changing sum of money. “Oh my God,” he stored repeating within the video.
“We want extra folks like Curtis on this world,” Dereniowski, who goes by mdmotivator on-line, advised Fox 2 Detroit on the time.
“Everybody can do these small acts as a result of the small acts are what issues. That’s the place all this cash got here from. Everybody that had a small quantity to provide wished to provide to you as a result of they felt your coronary heart.”
