Homeland Security Investigations agents made arrests Thursday at an east Charlotte apartment complex without providing warrants to the property manager.
The arrests happened at Buena Vida Apartments on Eastway Drive. A property manager at the complex said she asked the agents to produce a warrant, but they told her they didn’t have one with them.
“She did not have the warrant with her. Her supervisor had that information,” said the property manager, who asked to remain anonymous.
The agents entered the property to make arrests, left, then returned a couple of hours later and sat in the complex’s parking lot.
“I haven't seen a warrant, and they’re just sitting here," she said. "I don't know what they're doing.”
Under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, agents cannot enter a private home or apartment without consent or a judicial warrant.
Later Thursday afternoon, the property manager said agents returned a third time around 4 p.m. with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officers — this time with warrants — and arrested more tenants.
According to witnesses, the warrant was timestamped around 3:45 p.m. but wasn’t presented until approximately 6:30 p.m. — hours after agents had arrested people in the morning.
WFAE has not independently confirmed the witness account, as the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department records office was closed in observance of Good Friday.
