A woman who was allegedly behind nearly 200 vehicle break-ins in North Carolina’s largest city has been arrested and booked into county jail, and her purported juvenile accomplice has also turned himself in.
According to WBTV, 19-year-old Hannah Freeman faces 249 charges for the car burglaries, mostly in the Dilworth area of Charlotte.
She was booked just after 10 p.m. on Dec. 26, one week after the unnamed juvenile gave himself up.
Freeman didn’t go quietly, however; she sped away in a stolen vehicle when police had previously attempted to apprehend her.
Hannah Freeman was arrested yesterday. She’s charged with more than 200 charges of breaking and entering a vehicle, plus numerous other charges. @wsoctv pic.twitter.com/hfhCWPDBqf
— Hunter Sáenz (@Hunt_Saenz) December 27, 2023
The bulk of the thefts, it was previously reported by the station, happened during the overnight hours between Dec. 17 and 18 — with a significant cluster at the Camden Dilworth apartment complex.
“Thieves entered our community by scaling over a gated entry. Our cameras captured footage, and we have shared this with [Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department],” a representative for the complex said.
“CMPD confirmed these same individuals were responsible for vehicle break-ins the same night at other communities and the hospital. We will continue to work closely with CMPD and have asked them for any recommendations to further deter crime in our community.”
Should her alleged co-conspirator be charged as an adult?
Police were looking for a third suspect in the crimes; it’s unclear whether that suspect is still being sought.
As for the juvenile, WBTV reported that police said “the suspect has a lengthy criminal history and is known to officers.”
It’s unclear whether Freeman has a prior criminal history. However, given the state of America these days, it’d hardly be surprising.
North Carolina isn’t a liberal haven like New York, say, where men like Charles Barry can get out mostly scot-free even after his being arrested 139 times. That was in 2020, but there’s little to suggest that Barry was going to stop.
After all, that 139th arrest came just one day after he appeared on the front page of one of New York’s papers for his 138th arrest.
Charles Barry has been arrested 138 times. He has a long history of pickpocketing straphangers. He’s even dressed up as an MTA worker to steal cash.
He was arrested five times in 2020 — and freed after each bust thanks to New York’s bail reform. https://t.co/BwifhZXUnL— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) February 13, 2020
“Bail reform, it’s lit!” Barry told reporters after he upped the count to 139.
“It’s the Democrats! The Democrats know me and the Republicans fear me. You can’t touch me! I can’t be stopped!”
“I’m famous! I take $200, $300 a day of your money, cracker! You can’t stop me!” he added.
Now, nobody is saying that Hannah Freeman is a Charles Barry — or even that she’s guilty, for that matter. She may not be. If the charges are accurate, however, she’s the product of the same country that produces men like Barry — and other serial criminals who treat the system like a revolving door.
Among the charges she now faces, according to WSOC-TV, are felony larceny and breaking or entering a vehicle. That can add up to some serious time — but, in a nation where nonviolent criminals are oft put back out on the street under the assumption that their crimes are mostly harmless, it’s unlikely she’ll face it.
Especially since the long, hot summer of “reckoning” back in 2020, law enforcement agencies in big cities have long since given up enforcing the law at the lower levels. It trickles down in innumerable ways. One-hundred-eighty-four of them happened in Charlotte over the holiday season.
