‘That Is Crazy’: Armed Florida Car Salesman Carjacked Black Customer After Payment Mixup. Now He Faces a Decade In Prison

A Florida man was convicted last week after a federal jury found him guilty of carjacking a 24-year-old Black man due to a mix-up on an auto loan. Local station WPLG reported the victim financed a 2020 Honda Accord last October but was unaware of an agreement between the finance company and Guru Auto Sales, owned by 58-year-old Erik Hadad’s family, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. That agreement stipulated that if a customer was late on a payment within the first two months of the loan, the finance company could demand the approximately $13,800 it paid for the loan back from the dealership. Erik Hadad was found guilty of carjacking by a federal jury on Oct. 8, 2024. (Photo: Google, Miami Dade Corrections) However, the customer was unaware of this, as he was not provided a copy of the paperwork submitted to finalize the deal. “That part of the agreement mattered because the victim’s first payment bounced after he set up autopay, with the victim paying the first installment late and with a late fee in late November 2023,” prosecutors said in a press release. That led the finance company to send Guru a letter on Dec. 14,...