‘It’s very upsetting’: Cincinnati businesswoman carjacked is shaken but also thankful

By Brian Hamrick

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    CINCINNATI, Ohio (WLWT) — A successful Cincinnati businesswoman is shaken but uninjured after she was carjacked outside of her bank near the Hyde Park Plaza Kroger.

“I really had a hard time trying to conceptualize what was happening,” Simone Charles said. “It’s very upsetting.”

Charles pulled into a parking space at the Bank of America on Paxton Avenue in Oakley when another vehicle pulled in behind her.

“Once they blocked me in, someone hops out of the passenger seat and they proceed to hop into my vehicle,” Charles said.

In the rush to leave, the bungling thieves smashed the stolen car into the car they drove up in, then took off.

Charles didn’t just lose the car. “My purse was in the car. Everything that I owned was in the car as far as like my wallet, my keys to my other vehicle, my house keys.”

She called 911 and alerted police immediately.

Charles is a prominent Cincinnati entrepreneur. She owns the Confetti Room along with Social B. and Company Hospitality Group, among other businesses.

She was just named to the Who’s Who in Black Cincinnati.

Despite what she lost, Charles said she’s looking at the positive.

“Just being thankful and grateful for the fact that it could have been worse, that I was not hurt, that I decided to step back and even more grateful for the fact that my kids were not in their car seat,” Charles said.

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