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This story is brought to you by Scoop: Nashville as part of the #bspotter / #VisitMusicCity series which features tourist and downtown-related arrests in Music City.
18-year-old Melanie Serrano was taken into custody for carjacking on April 24th. On April 23rd, Jose Eliseo De Paz Flores reported that he had met up with a female he met online under the Facebook Profile “Diana Serrano.” Flores added that he had met up with her previously and that she stays in a Bell Road apartment near Home Depot. Then he said Serrano directed him to a property on Hickory Highlands Drive and told him where to park. Once he arrived, Flores said four unidentified black males wearing all-black clothing approached his vehicle. All four men were armed with guns as they told Flores to give them his car and threatened to kill him if he didn’t. The men took his 2015 white Honda Civic, his wallet with his two bank cards, and his red iPhone 7.
During the robbery, Serrano was there but did not react to it and left shortly after with the men, causing Flores to believe she was involved. He provided the officers with a photo of her Facebook profile. Violent Crimes Robbery Operations personnel observed a female, later identified as Serrano, matching the Facebook photo, exiting a white Honda Civic without tags at a gas station on Bell Road. Then, the officers called Flores and described the vehicle she was in, and he told them it was his. Officers apprehended her and conducted a “show-up,” where Flores confirmed her identity. During an audio and video recording, Serrano alleged that she left after the robbery because she did not want to get in trouble at home. Then she said her friend, whom she would not name, picked her up in Flores’s Honda Civic. She stated that she did not realize it was his car despite having been in it earlier that night when it was stolen. Serrano was then detained for the incident.
Melanie Serrano was booked into the Metro Nashville Jail on April 24th, charged with carjacking. A judicial commissioner set her bond at $15,000.
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