A South Florida woman says she was carjacked over the weekend and the suspected carjacker led police on a chase that ended in a crash Sunday in Miami Beach. NBC6’s Niko Clemmons reports
A South Florida carjacking victim is afraid to know that the suspect is on the loose after he allegedly violated his court-ordered house arrest.
According to the Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation Department, Savalas Cigar started house arrest on Saturday, after being held in jail since Aug. 12.
“During his assignment to house arrest, Offender Cigar set off a tamper alert on his ankle monitor,” the department said in a statement on Monday. “Despite attempts to reach him, contact could not be established.”
Cigar, 46, is facing grand theft and fleeing and aggravated eluding a police officer after he allegedly carjacked a woman and the next day led a pursuit that ended in a rollover crash in Miami Beach on Aug. 11.
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More details on how or when Cigar tampered with the monitor, or where he could be, were not immediately available.
At the time of the crime, the victim told NBC6 that she was parking her SUV in Miami when a man asked her for money. When she told the man she didn’t have any money, he approached her with a hammer and threatened her, she said.
“I was shaking because the guy was threatening me with a hammer,” Glenda Defas said. “(I said) 'You're going to destroy yourself for this and you'll destroy my life?'"
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The victim walked away, but moments later, the man got inside her SUV and took off. Her brother, who is disabled and deaf, was inside the vehicle but got out when the man hopped in.
“My brother came running and said, Glenda, the guy took the car,” she said. “It took seven years to pay this car and finally I had no more payments and this happened… I feel hopeless, I feel destroyed.”
Weeks later, she received the surprise of a lifetime when Rita Case, CEO of Rick Case Automotive, decided to gift her a car after seeing her story on NBC6.
But the peace of mind was short-lived, now that she knows Cigar is not reachable. She told NBC6 that detectives called her early Monday to notify her, and she felt afraid.
