For chance at $10,000, Wichita woman has car stolen instead

A stranger’s text message told a Wichita woman to drive to a specific address so she could be given $10,000.

She didn’t have to do anything for the money, she just had to meet the person in the 100 block of East 21st Street.

She followed instructions and parked in the parking lot behind the businesses at that address. But this fairy tale didn’t have a happy ending, police say.

As the 19-year-old woman sat in her Lincoln shortly before 1:30 p.m. Wednesday awaiting the arrival of the man with the money, a stranger walked up, pointed a gun at her and told her to get out of the car, Wichita police Lt. James Espinoza said.

He then drove away with her Lincoln. The woman told police he was a white man between 27 and 30 years old. He wore black pants and a black shirt. He was about 5 feet 7 and 160 pounds. He had a tattoo under his right eye and carried a black handgun.

Several hours later, the woman’s Lincoln was found abandoned in the 3800 block of East Kinkaid. That’s in the Meadowlark neighborhood southeast of Hillside and Mount Vernon.

The moral of the story, Espinoza said: If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.

This story was originally published July 9, 2015 at 1:13 PM with the headline "For chance at $10,000, Wichita woman has car stolen instead."