OOLITIC – A Muncie man was arrested Sunday when a Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department deputy responded to the Oolitic Dollar General Store after a complaint of an attempted abduction. The caller reported the male left in a red Pontiac Grand Prix.
Prior to police arriving at the store, an officer located the vehicle and driver Charles Copley, 39, of Muncie, at Knucklehead Bend gas station on Lincoln Avenue.
An officer spoke to the female victim at the Dollar General Store and she identified the male via video footage.
The victim told police she was shopping in the store and Copely was following her and her daughter down the aisles. She started toward the register and Copely followed. She sent her daughter to the opposite side of the store to put a distance between the two and Copely. She then went to a register to check out and Copely did the same and left the store. But he returned.
She finished checking out and rushed herself and her daughter to their vehicle. As the child was attempting to get into the van, Copley rushed up to their vehicle. The woman slammed shut the doors and locked them.
Copley then pressed his face on the window and started talking to her daughter saying things like, “Hey little girl, I got something in my car for you” and he attempted to open her door.
She says Copley pulled a knife from his pocket and said, “I have a TV in my car I want to show you. Come see the TV in my car. It’s perfect for your room”.
Then the girl began screaming. The woman put the vehicle in reverse to quickly flee and her vehicle mirror hit him as she backed out of the parking spot.
The woman had to stop momentarily for traffic to pull from the lot and Copley walked toward the vehicle and she was able to drive away before he reached the vehicle.
The incident was captured on the store’s video footage.
Police did locate the knife on Copley when he was detained. In Copley’s vehicle, police found straws with cocaine residue and noticed Copley had something in his mouth. Copley refused to open his mouth and officers had to forcibly remove a baggy containing marijuana.
Officers also learned Copley’s driver’s license was suspended. Copley was arrested on charges of attempted kidnapping, intimidation, possession of a narcotic drug, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of marijuana, driving while driver’s license suspended with a prior conviction, obstruction of justice, and unauthorized entry to a motor vehicle in the commission of a crime.
