A Decatur man told DeKalb County police he was kidnapped by his crack cocaine dealers and taken to a Northlake bank at gunpoint where they demanded he withdraw money for them Saturday.
The 55-year-old man said he walked from his home in the 900 block of Willow Ridge Way to a CITGO gas station on East Ponce de Leon Avenue where he asked a group of drug dealers for a $20 bag of crack cocaine at about noon on Friday, June 29, the police report said. The dealers took him to a nearby home where he said he was choked by one of the suspects.
He said they took his wallet, which contained about $900, and held him at the home all night with a 9mm handgun. After the suspects robbed him, he said they smoked crack together and drank beer.
The next morning, the suspects took him to the Regions Bank at 3880 Lavista Rd. and told him to withdraw money. One of the suspects threatened him with a knife from the car's back seat.
The victim walked into the bank and requested the money, but while he was waiting, he said he got anxious, walked into another office at called 911, the report said. He told one of the bank employees he was being held against his will and the suspects were outside in a blue, two-door vehicle. During the conversation, the bank employee told police she saw a woman – one of the suspects – come in the bank and sit down. The female suspect asked the manager where the bathroom was, but she fled after she overheard the manager ask a teller to call the police.
The suspects were described as: a black female about 5 feet, 200 pounds, wearing a red shirt, dark pants and her hair in a ponytail; a black male – the driver – about 5 feet 10 inches, about 170 pounds, wearing a green shirt; and a black male about 5 feet 10 inches, about 170 pounds, wearing a black shirt, black pants and armed with the knife and the handgun.
The suspects drove a "1970s-ish," older model two-door with a square back. It was dark blue.