Investigators filed an arrest warrant for the former Chevrolet salesman accused of kidnapping a disabled customer in Tennessee and taking nearly $200,000 from his accounts.
The Chattanooga Police Department told Automotive News on Friday that the warrant was filed for Daniel Bryant, who worked at Mountain View Chevrolet, and police were searching for him. Bryant has not been formally charged.
An affidavit was filed April 5 by Chattanooga Police Officer Matthew Hennessee, a member of an FBI task force, to seize the bank account of Bryant as part of the investigation.
The affidavit said police were called to a Chattanooga bank April 4 in response to a report of a kidnapping and spoke to a man there. The man, whose leg is amputated and who is paralyzed on one side from a work accident, told officers that he had been taken against his will April 1 and forced to withdraw thousands of dollars from his bank account.
The man said he took out nearly $200,000 in cash and cashier's checks made out to Bryant under fear of death. Each transaction was detailed in the affidavit.
He also said Bryant took him to a hotel in Georgia and took his cellphone and credit cards, the document said.
The dealership, in a statement, said Bryant has been terminated.
"Management at Mtn. View Chevrolet is aware of the investigation being conducted by the FBI into one of our former employees, Daniel Bryant," the statement said. "The dealership was not involved in, or even aware of, any alleged attempt on the part of Mr. Bryant to defraud a customer of our business. Mr. Bryant is no longer employed by Mtn. View Chevrolet, and we continue to work with the authorities to assist in resolving this matter."
The dealership declined to answer further questions about Bryant.
"We have made our statement and stand by it. We are no way involved with the investigation and have nothing to do with it," the dealership's general manager wrote in an email Friday.
Federal authorities told Automotive News on Friday they had no further information regarding Bryant or his whereabouts.
