HAMLET — Police recently charged a man they say was in a car stolen several counties away.
According to investigators with the Hamlet Police Department, officers received a call Saturday that a 2014 Chevy Malibu stolen from a Charlotte convenience store had been located via a tracking device on Cheraw Road.
When patrol officers went to check it out, they found 31-year-old Tristan “Tiger” Johnson inside the car.
Also inside the vehicle, officers say they found a stolen 9mm handgun and a financial card. Investigators added the victim reported an undisclosed amount of cash that was not recovered.
Johnson also allegedly spilled condiments inside the car, messing up the seats.
He was arrested and charged with possession of a stolen motor vehicle, possession of a firearm by a felon, larceny of a firearm, felony larceny, financial card theft and injury to personal property.
Johnson was booked into the Richmond County Jail where he remained Monday evening under a $50,000 secured bond. He is scheduled to appear in court Jan. 30.
Court records show he has not been charged with stealing the car.
Johnson has a criminal history dating back more than a decade, according to records with the N.C. Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction.
He was first convicted in 2007 of larceny from the person and given probation, which was revoked in early 2009 when he was convicted of possessing stolen goods and driving after consuming a controlled substance under the age of 21. He spent five months behind bars on concurrent sentences.
In 2009, Johnson was convicted of breaking and entering vehicles and larceny after breaking and entering. Again, he was given probation until a 2012 common law robbery conviction in Mecklenburg County. That time, he was given consecutive sentences and was locked up for nearly three years.
He was convicted of felony breaking and entering in 2017 and spent eight months behind bars. Three months after his release, Johnson was back in prison on a post-release revocation, records show. His parole ended nine days before his November 2018 release.
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
