by Adam Ghassemi
HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. – Tia Fleitz said everything seemed normal when she was dating, Devin O'Neil, until the day he disappeared with nearly everything she owned.
"I wanted him caught so badly because I didn't want another woman to ever have to go through what I had been through," she said by phone Tuesday from Glasgow, Kentucky.
She had no idea until reading an online article that her boyfriend stole his new SUV from a Hendersonville car dealer or that his name was actually Charles Norton.
"As soon as I seen [sic] that I picked up the phone and I called the detectives I said I know who has it. I know who stole it," she said.
Fleitz didn't stop there. She found Norton's username "vasago1" on multiple dating sites, including OkCupid.com. That's when her ex on-the-run made a big mistake.
"One day he changed it from Glasgow, Kentucky to Auburn, Washington," Fleitz said.
Turns out, Norton drove more than 2,400 miles to the West Coast.
"When he goes out to Washington I guess he's feeling a little bit invincible since he's that far away," said Sgt. Jim Vaughn with the Hendersonville Police Department.
Detectives in Washington state setup a fake profile posing as a young woman interested in a date. When Norton showed up in the stolen SUV they arrested him, according to an affidavit.
"She was the key to not only solving the crime. She was also the key to helping us find… she was the ultimate in cooperation between civilians and law enforcement," Vaughn said.
The arrest made the single mother glad to know she didn't give up after letting her guard down.
"Everything that he had ever said to me was literally straight off of my 'About Me' section or straight off my interests list," she said referring to her unsecured Facebook profile. "I could not have lived with myself if this had happened to somebody else."
Norton is in the King County Jail in Seattle with bail set at more than half a million dollars. It is not clear when he'll be extradited back here to Tennessee. Detectives said Norton is also wanted in Kentucky for theft.
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