China Grove Police: Zip tied shopping cart in parking lot not related to human trafficking

CHINA GROVE, N.C. (WBTV) – A widely shared social media post claiming that a shopping cart found zip-tied to a car in a grocery store parking lot in China Grove was related to human trafficking or kidnapping is now being debunked by police.

According to a press release from China Grove Police, on Friday, October 7, 2022, Officer B.S. Nesbitt of the China Grove Police Department responded to Food Lion located at 1408 N. Main Street, China Grove, in reference to a suspicious circumstance.

Upon arriving, the officer spoke with the victim who said that she came out of Food Lion and got into her vehicle to leave when she was approached by an employee who told her there was a shopping cart next to her vehicle. The employee had been in the parking lot gathering shopping carts and saw the shopping cart next to her car. Upon further investigation, they noticed the shopping cart was zip tied to the victim's car door. The victim and the employee left the shopping cart attached and contacted the China Grove Police Department. Officer Nesbitt observed the shopping cart which was still zip tied to the passenger door when he arrived.

Police said that once the zip tie was cut and the shopping cart was moved away from the vehicle, a small circular chip in the paint was observed where the shopping cart had damaged the vehicle.

The woman became concerned due to information she had read and seen on different social media platforms. She told police that the information online indicated that this was used by human traffickers to identify potential victims of human trafficking and she wanted to make us aware.

Officer Nesbitt began investigating and was able to locate a suspect on the Food Lion security footage. The suspect was seen by the victim's vehicle on the passenger side. Upon further review of the video Officer Nesbitt was able to locate the suspect in the Food Lion store and a vehicle that he eventually got into and left the area. The vehicle has a business name of Accuset Transport Services. A quick search of the internet for Accuset Transport Services on the internet provided a phone number of the business which was located in Rockwell, NC. The owner was identified as Braden C. Adams.

Officer Nesbitt later obtained a picture of Braden C. Adams and was able to positively identify the suspect at Food Lion as the same person, Braden C. Adams. A warrant was obtained for his arrest for one charge of Tampering with a Motor Vehicle.

On October 8, 2022, Braden C. Adams was arrested for the outstanding warrant. Braden C. Adams received a written promise to appear.

Police said that Braden Adams admitted to doing the act because his truck was too big. Braden's truck was parked taking up two spaces and the victim had parked in the space next to him. Braden felt that she was too close so he decided to zip tie the shopping cart to her vehicle (even though she was parked correctly in her parking space).

This incident was shared on Facebook by a friend of the victim and has now been shared 1500 times and has caused a number of people concern about safety according to their comments.

This incident has nothing to do with human trafficking / sex trafficking or the business of Food Lion, according to police.