MIDWEST CITY, Okla. - Repairman Tony Warrior is finally coming clean with us.
You’ll remember customers contacted our In Your Corner team about their missing cars.
The Mechanic says he didn’t intentionally string customers along but fell behind at work, after he lost power to his shop.
Our initial interview with Warrior was a strange one.
He kept lying to us about who he was.
Friday, at his shop, he apologized.
“I was scared. I didn't know what was going on,” Warrior said. “When you put cameras in my face, I didn't know what to say.”
The In Your Corner bottom line is there were customers like Briana Clark alleging Warrior was holding their car hostage.
Warrior says he finally returned Briana’s car with a new paint job.
He pledges to treat all of his customers with care and respect from now on.
“What I want to say is I'll be back and I'm very sorry,” he said.
Clark is living in Texas now and says, while Warrior returned her car, she's not happy with the paint job or repairs.
Update 10/8/15: Our In Your Corner team has new details involving the owner of a Midwest City repair shop.
Customers say Tony Warrior took their cars and won't give them back.
For weeks, our team's been putting pressure on the shop owner to come clean and return Briana Clark’s car.
Since our story aired, we've received several new complaints.
“I was surprised you caught Tony Warrior,” she said.
Lynn Smith says she can see her son's car inside the shop.
It's been the same spot for a year.
Two of the tires are missing, and everything under the hood is jacked up.
“It's heartbreaking, because now the car is in worse condition than it was when we sent it here,” she said.
We wanted to find out why Warrior was holding their cars hostage.
You'll remember, our interview with him was a strange one.
At the time, we didn't know what Warrior looked like.
He kept lying to us and talking about himself in third person.
“You know, Tony's not one of them person's that will screw you over,” Tony said.
Warrior hasn't shown his face since although, days later, he called us to apologize.
“Sorry about that misunderstanding,” the voicemail said. “There's a lot of editing y'all’s was doing, but it's okay. I shouldn't have lied.”
Briana says she still hasn't heard from Warrior.
We alerted authorities about the missing cars.
Tuesday, City of Midwest City inspectors met us at the shop to look around.
They tell us Warrior doesn't have the correct certificate or license to be running his business.
Warrior claims he's in the process of moving locations, because thieves keep hitting his shop.
“At night time, they just come and rob me,” he said. “Police still don't know who took all my wires out the back of the shop.”
We checked with Midwest City Police.
Warrior has filed a report for missing property before, but there's no record of him reporting anything missing this year.
We also talked to his landlord.
He says he gave Warrior 60 days to get out and that deadline expired last month.
Smith says she’ll continue to go to bat for her son.
“Tony, just give him back his money,” she said. "Whatever happened is happened. It's water under the bridge.”
We know of at least four people who say Warrior is holding their car hostage.
Both police and inspectors are trying to determine whether or not Warrior committed any crimes.
We'll keep you posted.
MIDWEST CITY, Okla. - Brianna Clark is flipping out.
She’s moving to Dallas and Warriors Auto Center won’t tell her where her car is.
“My car isn't here, and my calls go to voicemail,” Brianna said.
Brianna dropped it off with owner, Tony Warrior, about four months ago for hail damage repair and a paint job.
“He told me the shop was flooded. He told me he was out of town,” she said. “He told me he got sick from inhaling too much paint.”
Brianna's not buying it, and neither are we.
Right before she met us at the shop to look for her car, we got this guy to come outside.
He told us Warrior was his boss.
“He's not here at this time,” the guy said. “I know he went to Shawnee. He'll probably be by later.”
Except he never showed up later, because he never left the shop in the first place.
That's right. The guy doesn't work for Warrior. He is Warrior.
“That was Tony,” Brianna said. I'm positive.”
It’s always bizarre when someone keeps referring to themselves in third person.
“You know, Tony's not one of them person's that will screw you over,” Warrior said. "But, I know how Tony is, you know what I'm saying? The car's not stolen.”
As soon as we told Warrior Brianna was on her way to the shop, he bolted back inside and locked us out.
We also found a letter outside the shop.
It was from another frustrated customer wanting to know what happened to her money and car.
Brianna says she's convinced warrior already repaired her car.
“He's driving it around, or maybe he gave it somebody else whose car he's working on."
Warrior claims he’s not trying to fool anyone.
“None of that.” He said.
The shop owner did give Brianna a loaner car, but it keeps breaking down.
Warrior keeps telling us Brianna's car is at a second repair shop getting repaired, yet he refuses to give us an address so we can see the car for ourselves.
Right now, Brianna's out $500.
Midwest City police are investigating.
We'll check back.