OAK CREEK, Wis. — A woman says the person who stole her car from her Oak Creek apartment reached out to her on Facebook — bragging about the theft and demanding money to return it.
Melinna Posey's 2018 Dodge Durango SRT was stolen from her apartment complex early Sunday morning. Since then, she has been working to track it down, turning to social media for tips and reaching out to TMJ4 for help locating the vehicle.
"It's just very upsetting, especially trying to go through insurance and everything, having to find a new vehicle again. It's a lot," Posey said.
The vehicle is one her family depends on.
"It's hard, especially when we work so far away from here, we have to do drops off pickups with my daughter, going to the grocery store like during the day," Posey said.
After Posey posted on social media asking for tips, she received an unexpected message from a Facebook account called "Badbacking Allday."
Watch: Car theft suspect taunts Oak Creek victim on Facebook, demands money
"I received that message, and it was a picture of them driving my vehicle, as well as pictures of the license plate and everything," Posey said.
The person then began demanding money — through CashApp and digital gift cards — and attempted to arrange a meetup, asking for $400 in exchange for the vehicle.
"They were asking for $400 to get the vehicle back, basically, that they were going to scrap the car," Posey said.
Posey said she never expected the thief to make contact.
"No, I think it's insane. I wouldn't ever think that would happened. Never," Posey said.
She says she relayed all of the information to police. The Oak Creek Police Department is investigating.
Adding to the ordeal, Posey says the person taunted her by discarding personal belongings that were inside the vehicle at the time of the theft.
"Her car seat was in there, her stroller wagon. There's cameras in there. There's a lot of like personal items, like photos and stuff that were in the vehicle that we would always drive with," Posey said.
Posey says she reached out to share her experience as a warning to others.
"I want people to be aware that this can happen. You don't expect it to happen to you," Posey said.
She says her car has dents on the front driver side and back left side along with a Road America bumper sticker on the back.
She says she plans to take precautions going forward and hopes others will do the same to protect their vehicles.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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