By Kay S. Pedrotti A young man who grew up here, and whose parents live in Barnesville, was heartbroken when his 1971 Oldsmobile Cutlass convertible was stolen in 2011. Rickey Shannon had worked a long time on the car, restoring, repainting, getting the engine rebuilt, installing a sound system and custom wheels – just a few of the many projects it took to put the car into top shape, he said. He decided to sell it, and arranged to meet a man in College Park who said he was ready to buy. The man gave him a cashier’s check ‘from a real bank,’ said Shannon, ‘so I gave him the keys and he drove off in the car.’ Shannon found out when he deposited the check in his bank that it was fraudulent. There was nothing he could do at that point, except report the car stolen to the College Park police. He kept asking them whether his car had been found, but got no positive answers. Something of a miracle occurred in October 2014, given the large proportion of stolen cars that are never found or recovered. A friend saw a social media picture, which he sent to Shannon, asking ‘Isn’t this your car?’ Shannon knew immediately that it was. The car had a temporary tag from the state of Ohio that was visible in the photo, enabling police in Ohio to track down the vehicle. Because its original VIN number had been changed, Shannon had difficulty establishing his ownership and trying to recover the car, he said. ‘I had a lot of trouble getting law enforcement to help me,’ Shannon said. He said Ohio State Police and other agencies thought the car might be evidence in an investigation, and other reasons, and nothing was being done, he added. ‘Mr. Truman (Boyle, a retired Georgia trooper) was the only one who helped me. He reached out to some of his connections in law enforcement and was able to get them to release my car in October of this year. We owe him a lot of thanks. The odd thing is, when I saw the picture on the internet, the guy who took my car was standing beside the car. He still is not in custody as far as I know,’ Shannon said. The car, once yellow and black, had been repainted red and black, and there is a lot of work still to be done to redo what was changed in Ohio. The car is being worked on at an undisclosed location, Shannon added. ‘I think my prayers were answered,’ said Shannon, son of Rickey and Vivian Shannon of Barnesville. ‘I most definitely prayed a lot about it.’ The younger Shannon now lives in Douglasvillle with his wife and son, Rickey Montrell Shannon Jr. They attend Word of Faith Church near Six Flags.
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