Articles Celebrations Obituaries

Booking photo of Christopher Walls
(Contributed / Washington County Detention Center)

Mechanic accused of damaging vehicles for repair charges

By Becky Campbell
Press Staff Writer
bcampbell@johnsoncitypress.com

 Printer-friendly version

 Email Article

There’s a shade-tree mechanic, and then there’s a shady mechanic.

Folks who encountered Christopher Walls, 41, 2805 W. Walnut St., No. 20, Johnson City, might think he’s the latter.

Johnson City police arrested Walls Thursday evening as he was leaving a restaurant parking lot just after he’d finished repairing the starter on a man’s disabled vehicle.

As it turns out, police believe Walls was the one who disabled the starter in the first place, then acted as if he came to the man’s rescue.

He’s charged with two counts of theft under $500 for swindling two people out of money for unneeded repairs to their vehicles, police said.

According to a JCPD news release, Walls’ method was to disable a vehicle, then wait nearby for the owners to return.

When their vehicle wouldn’t start, Walls would arrive and offer his services as a mobile mechanic.

After repairing the vehicle, Walls charged the victims $40 to $200 for his work.

Police were first alerted to Walls’ activity by a Linville Falls, N.C., woman whose van wouldn’t start when she exited Smokey Bones on North Roan Street after having dinner. Her husband and a friend couldn’t get the van started, then Walls appeared in a pickup truck with a flashing amber light on top, according to a police report.

Walls told the victim that he was a mobile mechanic and offered to repair her vehicle. After looking at the van, Walls told the woman she needed a starter and quoted a price to her.

“They told him they would not have enough, and so he said maybe all they needed was for him to clean the starter brushes,” an officer wrote.

After doing the alleged work, Walls charged the woman $109. The woman called police and reported Walls’ suspicious activity.

During the investigation, the officer located Walls in the Red Lobster parking lot just as he had finished repairing a Weber City, Va., man’s vehicle.

David Kern told police that he had dinner and went out to his car and it wouldn’t start. He waited 45 minutes before anyone offered to help, then Walls appeared.

Walls told Kern that they had a fused wire on their starter and he offered to fix it. He did the repair and Kern needed to go to an ATM to get money to pay for the repair when police arrived and killed the deal.

Walls was arrested on the theft charges and a charge of driving on a revoked license.

Police said Walls had $341 in cash he could not account for, pieces of cut wire and a receipt book with receipts written for numerous repairs.

Walls remains jailed on a $10,000 bond. He’s scheduled for a court hearing on Monday.

Police said anyone who believes they have been a victim of this type of scam should report it to their local law enforcement agency.