Chapter 7 - The Arrest at the Dealership
Brandon Carter thought he could outrun the scandal. After his mother’s arrest and the seizure of the Mustang, he had fled the family home and moved into a cheap motel near the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border. He had filled his pockets with the remaining cash his mother had given him before her bank accounts were frozen.
He spent his days hiding behind a fake name online, watching the public fury grow. He believed that since his mother had signed the papers for the car, he was legally safe.
He was wrong.
On a crisp Friday afternoon, Brandon walked into a high-end used car dealership in Nashua, New Hampshire. He had twenty thousand dollars in cash in a duffel bag—money his mother had withdrawn from a secret safety deposit box the day before the surgery. He wanted to buy a cheap, unnoticeable sedan so he could disappear out West.
"I like this Honda," Brandon told the salesman, tossing the duffel bag onto the desk. "I’ll pay cash for it today. No financing, no paperwork needed. Just give me the title."
The salesman looked at the cash, then at Brandon’s face. The salesman had seen the news. Brandon’s face had been broadcast across New England for a week as the "Mustang Brother."
"Of course, sir," the salesman smiled smoothly. "Let me just grab the manager to finalize the cash transaction paperwork. It’ll take two minutes."
The salesman walked out of the office and immediately dialed 911.
Ten minutes later, Brandon was standing by the Honda, waiting for the keys, when three New Hampshire State Police cruisers squealed into the dealership lot, blocking the exit. Six officers stepped out with their weapons drawn.
"Brandon Carter!" an officer shouted through a megaphone. "Get on the ground and put your hands behind your head!"
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Brandon panicked, dropping the duffel bag as he tried to run toward the back fence. But he was out of shape and terrified. A K-9 officer released a German Shepherd, which caught up to Brandon within seconds, pinning him to the gravel lot.
As the steel handcuffs clicked tightly around his wrists, Brandon screamed for his mother. But his mother wasn't there to buy him out of trouble this time. He was loaded into the back of a police car, facing state charges for receiving stolen property and federal charges for structuring cash transactions to avoid banking alerts.
