Evan Wexler: Meat mogul runs out NAKED to shoot at car thief, gets arrested himself
FORT LEE, NEW JERSEY: A millionaire meat mogul reportedly ran naked onto his porch and fired a warning shot into the air after his luxury car collection was targeted by thieves. This was, as per reports, the 18th time thieves had tried to steal Evan Wexler’s exotic sports cars.
Wexler, 56, was seen in his Fort Lee, New Jersey home’s surveillance camera footage, completely naked, brandishing his AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle. This particular incident, the Daily Mail reported, took place in July 2020. Reportedly, his valuable car collection includes a Lamborghini worth $500,000, Ferrari, Range Rover, and Mercedes G-Wagon.
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Despite preventing the robbery, things did not go down as Wexler imagined. While the thief, who was trying to steal Wexler's Mercedes, fled after vaulting a high fence, Wexler himself was arrested. Cops originally charged Wexler with aggravated assault and possession of weapons for unlawful purposes. Wexler then pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of possession of a deadly weapon to make the case go away. That weapon was an Israeli IWI Tavor Sar that the police found on his property, which was illegal because the magazine held too many bullets.
Wexler told the Daily Mail, “An incident happens where a guy gets my car started, I came out of the house with a rifle, the guy puts the car into drive, drives forward, and my gun discharges. At that point, Fort Lee police show up, there's no victim of a shooting, but they come and turn the tables on me. I came out, the guy got the car started and when the car moved or jump forward my gun discharged. My wife called the police like we did every other time.”
“The cop comes and he sees a bullet hole in the side of this car and the next thing I know the sheriff is showing up, police and detectives are showing up,” he said. “They get a subpoena to search my house, they take my guns, they take my gun license, they put me in jail for 48 hours. I've never been arrested in my life! Cops that I thought were friendly, that had my cell number and we would text back and forth.” Wexler also claimed that owns his guns legally. After the pre-trial intervention, Wexler was forced to sell his guns and was slapped with probation for two years, which requires him to seek permission from the courts every time he wants to travel.
As per the New York Post, as recently as Sunday night, September 26, thieves broke into his Mercedes G-Wagon parked in his driveway, looking for keys to his more exotic rides. Last August thieves stole his rare Lamborghini Aventador SVJ Coupe worth more than half a million dollars. The Lamborghini was found a week later with $80,000 worth of damage at an abandoned Newark house. Wexler said that he has called police 25 times during attempted heists since August 2019 but Fort Lee police have only caught the thieves once, earlier this year. "I’m a guy who’s terrorized living in Fort Lee," Wexler said. "I’m tired and anxious. I have had too many sleepless nights because I’m helpless. At least when I had guns in the house, I knew if they came into my house I had some protection, but now all I have is a dog."
In an arrest report tendered to the Fort Lee Municipal Court, police officer Jonathan Kim said there was an "extensive history of reports with the Fort Lee Police regarding suspects attempting to steal [Wexler’s] vehicles." Fort Lee police claimed they have increased patrols in "the affected areas". "The department has assigned increased patrols and manpower in the affected areas," Fort Lee Police Department CaptainEdward Young told The Post. "The department has assigned officers and detectives who have walked neighborhoods affected to educate residents to please lock your door and take your fobs."
"The cops tell me to lock my doors and I show them videos of people coming into my property trying to open my locked cars,” said Wexler. "I keep calling the police and showing them videos to prove I’m not crying wolf. I’m begging them to deter these guys, but they’re not doing s***. The cops show up too late or go on high-speed chases but they never catch anyone." Explaining how he'd react to the attempted thefts when he was allowed to keep his guns, Wexler said: “Now that the door's ringing, I'm keeping a 9mm on the night table, a shotgun in the basement, a shotgun downstairs. It has me thinking outside the box. I have to start feeling like I might have to protect myself. I would wake up, I tend to sleep not with clothes. This thing has me frantic where I jump out of bed butt naked and run down the stairs because they're here, knowing that the cops are not going to get here on time. They show up too late. It got to the point where I came out and they had come four straight nights.”
Wexler also insists that he wasn't “a gun nut” and says he only bought his first weapon after a house break-in in 2003. “I'm dealing with the consequences but the thieves are still out there,” he said. “Police every time they come they make it seem like I'm the only one that this happens to, but my neighbors have the same problem." He further said, "I'm paying close to $60,000 in taxes. The police and just the way they deal with things… I understand that the big things are that New Jersey laws need to change, because their hands are tied and they can't do their jobs. I want this to turn into Evan's Law, where if you get caught trying to steal vehicles more than once, you need to do some time. I willing, for my tax money, to pay for that.”