Thursday, March 24, 2016
Pair accused of impersonating friend to lure Columbia couple to apartment, then ramming vehicle
Lawrenceburg Now
A Lawrenceburg couple garnered charges early Tuesday after they allegedly impersonated a friend in order to lure a Columbia couple to their apartment, then blocked them in and rammed their vehicle.
Reports filed through the Lawrenceburg Police Department indicate that officers were dispatched to an apartment complex on Mahr Avenue just after 12:00 a.m. after a caller reported there was an unwanted person at the home, armed with weapons. Officers report that, upon their arrival, they made contact with a twenty-nine year old male victim and a twenty-three year old female victim. They were sitting inside of a vehicle that had sustained heavy damage on the driver’s side.
The couple reported that they had come to the apartments after receiving a text message from a friend, inviting them to “come over and hang out.” The driver said that when they pulled into the parking lot he noticed James Howard Mabry III and Carla Marie Mabry, both twenty-four year old residents of 917 Mahr Avenue, sitting inside a vehicle “with the seats laid back attempting to hide.” He said he knocked on his friend’s door, got no answer, then returned to his vehicle to leave.
The male victim reported that James Mabry, who was driving the second vehicle, blocked him in. He said he maneuvered his vehicle back and forth multiple times and was able to exit the parking space, but that Mabry then blocked his exit from the parking lot.
The victim reported that he pulled into a grassy area adjacent to the exit and that Mabry backed into his car. He said he was able to pull onto the roadway, but that Mabry “drove his car into the driver’s side” of his vehicle, causing major damage.
Officers spoke with the victims’ friend who informed them that, without his knowledge, James and Carla Mabry had taken his cell phone and texted the victims, asking that they come to his apartment.
Reports show that Carla Mabry eventually admitted that she had taken the phone to text the victims, but said she had done so “to protect her kids.” She told officers that she had an active order of protection against the male victim (her ex-boyfriend with whom she shares a child) in the state of Colorado. The officer reports he made contact with Colorado authorities who were unable to locate an active order of protection.
Reports indicate that James Mabry insisted that the male victim had actually been the one who crashed into his vehicle. The officer noted that the victim’s car had sustained damage to the driver side only, which was inconsistent with Mabry’s claim. Witnesses on the scene confirmed the victim’s account of the events.
Mabry also claimed that he had blocked the victim’s vehicle and damaged it in an attempt to detain him at the scene. He said that he had been on the phone with Central Dispatch and that a dispatcher had told him to do so. When the officer spoke with the dispatcher, however, he was informed that he “did not tell him to do anything of that nature.”
As a result of the investigation, officers placed James Mabry under arrest on two counts of reckless endangerment via a vehicle. He was transported to the Lawrence County Detention Center where he was held under a $50,000 bond. Carla Mabry was issued a citation for criminal impersonation. Both have been scheduled an appearance in General Sessions Court on May 6, 2016.
