ERIE COUNTY, OH (WTOL) - A convicted bus thief is under investigation again involving another stolen bus.
Police finally caught up with Derrick Jones. He is the man WTOL 11 told you about earlier this year. He is accused of using a stolen charter bus to scam local boxing fans out of thousands of dollars.
"I'm not saying I'm no angel, I've done things in the past, but this is the present," Jones said.
However, his legal run-ins may be far from over.
"I'm thankful and grateful that he has been captured," James Easter said.
It is a day Easter thought would never come. An arrest made in a case that shook him to his core.
"I didn't sleep for a couple days, there were some weary nights," Easter described.
Back in January, Easter claims he was scammed out of more than $2,000 by Jones.
Jones was contracted to transport a group, Easter organized, to Brooklyn, New York to see his nephew defend his world boxing title in prime time.
However, the bus driver never showed up.
WTOL 11's Andrew Kinsey soon uncovered why.
The bus Easter had allegedly planned to use for the trip was stolen out of Tennessee.
A tip to police led them right to it in Erie Township. Investigators say the VIN number had been stripped and stolen. License plates out of Milan, Michigan had been slapped on it.
The accused mastermind was Jones.
Michigan State Police nabbed Jones earlier this week in Romulus. He is the prime suspect in a case they are now investigating involving another stolen bus out of Williamsburg, Ohio.
"Are you guilty of stealing these buses," our Andrew Kinsey asked Jones.
"No sir," Jones replied.
Jones denies knowing anything about the stolen bus found back in January that police say he was photographed with and planned to use for the group of Toledo boxing fans.
"It's not your signature, not your phone number, not your address on the document you gave them," Kinsey asked Jones.
"No, no," Jones replied.
"So, there must be another Derrick Jones," Kinsey suggested.
"There is a John Johnson," Jones stated. "They've got his number."
Kinsey asked Erie Township Police Chief Dean Ansel if he had heard Jones' statements.
"Yes," Chief Ansel confirmed. "I don't think that theory is going to fly in court."
Police say Jones' criminal convictions speak volumes.
He was just released from prison back in November for receiving a stolen bus out of Illinois. His latest charges could send him back to prison for more than 10 years.
"He needs to face the music for this," Easter stated.
While Easter doubts he will ever get his money back, he is content with knowing that Jones is off the streets, for now.
"I'm hoping the court system will do something serious with him, so he can look in the mirror and see something isn't right," Easter said.
Jones is being held on a $50,000 bond. He's due back in court on March 29.