Category Archives: Midwest

Secretary Lawson provides restitution to victims of auto dealer scam

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INDIANAPOLIS (May 29, 2020) — After receiving a consumer complaint about an auto dealer who illegally kept warranty payments, the Indiana Secretary of State’s Office has secured restitution for those affected by the crime. In July 2019, a consumer contacted the Auto Dealer Services Division of the Secretary of State’s Office, claiming she had paid Stephens Automotive Group for a warranty, and that the warranty was never received by the warranty company. An investigator from Dealer Services reached out to the warranty company to confirm that Stephens Automotive Group had failed to transfers funds for several warranties, which failed to activate the warranties. Multiple complaints followed over the next two months, and Dealer Services collected evidence verifying the consumer claims. In December 2019, an investigator from the Division met the owner of Stephens Automotive Group, where the owner admitted to not sending the money to the warranty company. In February 2020, the Division issued an order for restitution requiring Stephens Automotive Group to pay a total of $8,673.00 to five consumers. “I am proud of the work done by the Dealer Services Division, and very glad that this consumer complaint resulted in restitution,” said Secretary of State Connie Lawson. “Because of the cooperation between our Division, our constituents, and the warranty company, we were able to bring this case to a quick and fair conclusion.” Consumers may file complaints against an Indiana auto dealership by visiting the Auto Dealer Services Division website at https://www.in.gov/sos/dealer/index.htm. View Original Story here   https://calendar.in.gov/site/sos/event/secretary-lawson-provides-restitution-to-victims-of-auto-dealer-scam/

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Car dealers linked to Columbia Count licenses revoked for odometer fraud

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ARLINGTON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Department of Transportation Division of Motor Vehicles has revoked the licenses for two car dealers with ties to Columbia County. An investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s Dealer and Agent Section found that Best Motors and Manhattan Motors sold vehicles with mileage discrepancies, which is in violation of state law. The dealerships have licenses operated out of Arlington, Wisconsin. The licenses are linked to a business at 101 Skyline Drive in Arlington. Under Wisconsin state law, each licensee must have an office location and Best Motors and Manhattan Motors are registered to this location. It is possible that these licenses belong to dealerships operated in another state. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s Dealer and Agent Section licenses, regulates and resolves disputes about dealerships sales and warranty repairs, as well as educates the motor vehicle industry and public. The group also investigates complaints about odometer tampering involving dealerships and private sellers. Original Article: https://www.channel3000.com/news/two-columbia-county-car-dealerships-have-licenses-revoked-for-odometer-fraud/1105810604

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Warrants reveal what police uncovered in odometer tampering investigation

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BROWN COUNTY, Wis. (WBAY) – Search warrants obtained by Target 2 Investigates reveal new information about a complex car fraud investigation in Northeast Wisconsin. Robert Solberg and Joshua Taylor. Photos: Brown County Jail Two men are accused of selling used vehicles with forged titles and altered odometers. In some cases, the odometers were rolled back. In other vehicles, they were replaced altogether. Police say this happened over the past year at several locations in Wisconsin. On June 3, Green Bay Police executed three search warrants and arrested Robert Solberg, 34, and Joshua Taylor, 37. The warrants were served at Solberg’s home, Taylor’s home, and a storage facility on Green Bay’s east side. More than 40 pages of search warrants shed new light on the investigation. It started with one victim noticing handwriting on his vehicle’s title. The case took off from there. WHAT WARRANTS TURNED UP Warrants reveal that during searches of three properties, police seized six vehicles, phones, keys, titles, more than $4,000 in cash, and an odometer cluster–a tool used to alter mileage on a vehicle. Officers also found multiple odometers. One was in a cardboard box. It had been shipped to Robert Solberg, warrants show. The investigation started in March 2019. An odometer fraud investigator from the Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles called Green Bay Police. The DMV needed help “with a report of title fraud and odometer tampering.” A Brown County man had reported buying a GMC Yukon for $4,100 on Craigslist. He said he made the purchase from a man he didn’t know. He thought “the handwritten mileage on the title appeared forged from 214,450 miles to 114,459 miles.” The odometer read the lower mileage, but was displaying an error code. He suspected some had “tampered with” it. Police tracked down the original owner, who informed … Continue Reading

The Missouri Highway Patrol Just Cracked A Big Odometer Fraud Case — Here’s How To Check Your Car

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Odometer rollback schemes cost Americans $1 billion a year and is on the rise in Missouri. Like most big criminal cases, the odometer fraud ring that Missouri Highway Patrol Cpl. Nate Bradley recently busted started with one victim. “A gentleman came to my shop here in Lee’s Summit and he said, ‘Hey, I bought this car, and I think I got swindled,’” Bradley recalls. “So I started looking into it and sure enough, he got swindled.” Over a five-year investigation, Bradley eventually uncovered 48 victims of a rollback scheme around Kansas City, according to a grand jury indictment in a case that was recently unsealed. Charged are 48-year-old Wilfred Albanese and his girlfriend, 47-year-old Susan Cunningham. The couple “purchased high-mileage used vehicles and then used a variety of means to alter or reduce the mileage shown on the odometer,” according to the indictment. They would also disable the check engine light, conceal rust and other damage with paint and alter maintenance records, all to make the car look better to their victims. Wilfred Albanese is charged with odometer fraud in a 20 count federal indictment. Missouri officials say odometer fraud jumped almost five percent from 2017 to 2018. Bradley says Albanese went to great lengths to sell the scheme. He had “KC” tattooed on an earlobe, even though he is not from Kansas City. “And then on the side of his neck, he had the Marine Corps emblem, the globe and anchor,” says Bradley, even though Albanese never served in any branch of the military. “So it made him look a little bit more honorable than he actually was.” While charged in the 20-count indictment, neither Albanese nor Cunningham is in custody. Odometer fraud is spiking The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates 450,000 cars are sold each year … Continue Reading

News car odometer rolled back 45,000 miles by Denver-area business

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LITTLETON, Colo. — The U.S. Justice Department calls it “clocking”: intentionally rolling back an odometer to make a vehicle appear less used. Odometer rollback is “the single most common fraudulent issue in Colorado and nationwide.” That’s a bold statement made by one of this state’s top auto enforcement regulators. So, based on a tip from one of our viewers, the FOX31 Problem Solvers decided to take a closer look at a business which advertises “odometer correction.” Odo-Pro is a licensed business registered to the address of a corner house in Littleton. State records show its owner is Peter Petrov Rains. He sells parts and auto repair services, mostly through via mail. Odometer repair and adjustment is permitted in some instances under the federal law. However, “if the mileage on the odometer cannot remain the same as before the service, the odometer must be reset to zero.” What is not permitted is rolling miles on a vehicle backwards with the intent to defraud. Here’s part of the federal law which says so: 327.03 A person may not (2) disconnect, reset, alter, or have disconnected, reset, or altered, an odometer of a motor vehicle intending to change the mileage registered by the odometer; (3) with intent to defraud.. The FOX31 Problem Solvers tested to see if Odo-Pro would reduce the miles, no questions asked, on one of our old news cars: a 2005 Dodge Durango. We had a mechanic remove the odometer, which had 195,839 well-documented miles on it. The FOX31 investigative team then printed off a single-sheet form we found on Odo-Pro’s website. It’s said “Odometer Correction Form” at the top. We requested our odometer be programmed backwards — rolled back to 150, 839 — a 45,000-mile reduction. The form required us to acknowledge that “altering the odometer for personal gain is … Continue Reading

Dealership Owner Gets Probation for Tampering With Odometers

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SIOUX CITY, IOWA (AP) — A Nebraska man has been given three years of probation for tampering with odometers sold at his vehicle dealership in northwest Iowa. The Sioux City Journal reports that 38-year-old Francisco Hurtado also was sentenced Wednesday to a suspended prison sentence of five years, fined $1,500 and ordered to pay more than $19,000 to seven victims. He’d pleaded guilty to two counts of fraudulent practice. Authorities say Hurtado lives in South Sioux City, Nebraska, and owns Siouxland Auto Sales in Sioux City. Iowa investigators say they found odometers in high-mileage vehicles had been rolled down to increase the vehicles’ value. Court records say Hurtado acknowledged replacing odometer clusters on some vehicles. The records say, however, that Hurtado had not followed Iowa law in resetting the replaced odometers to zero or to the original mileage, nor placing notices on the dashboards noting that the odometer clusters had been replaced. Original Article: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/nebraska/articles/2019-04-11/dealership-owner-gets-probation-for-tampering-with-odometers

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Former Kennett, MO man sentenced on mail fraud charges

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A former Kennett, Missouri man has been sentenced on felony mail fraud.  CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KFVS) – A former Kennett, Missouri man has been sentenced on felony mail fraud. According to the Eastern District U.S. Attorney’s Office, Nicholas H. Brock, 36, now of Brookland, Arkansas, was sentenced to four months home confinement and five years of probation for mail fraud. Brock was also order to pay $78,180.98 in restitution. In his guilty plea in federal court on Nov. 5, 2018, Brock admitted to defrauding a lienholder for an over-the-road tractor trailer truck claim to the Missouri Department of Revenue that he towed a truck for a breakdown. He claimed the truck had been abandoned and tried to get a title for the vehicle through the Department of Revenue. Brock admitted in court that the fraud began on or about Feb. 10, 2017 and continued through or about June 13, 2017 in Dunklin County, Mo. The case was investigated by the Missouri Department of Revenue and the Missouri State Highway Patrol and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Paul W. Hahn. Original Article: https://www.kfvs12.com/2019/03/18/former-kennett-mo-man-sentenced-mail-fraud-charges/

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Father and Son Sentenced in Large Scale Vehicle Odometer Roll Back Scheme

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Jackson, Miss. – Mark Longgrear, 54, of Jackson, was sentenced today to 57 months in prison, and his son, Zachary Longgrear, 29, of Madison, was sentenced to 28 months in prison by United States District Judge Carlton W. Reeves for conspiring to reset and alter the odometers of motor vehicles, to giving or causing to be given false statements relating to odometers, and securities fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst and Special Agent-in-Charge Midwest Region, Kevin L. Porter with the U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  The Longgrears were also ordered to pay restitution, jointly and severally, in the amount of $1.5 million. From 2014 through at least February 2018, Mark Longgrear, along with his son, Zachary Longgrear, both individually and under their company Southern Auto Buyers LLC, bought a large number of late model, high mileage vehicles from numerous sources, and thereafter illegally altered the odometers of these vehicles to show lower mileage. The Defendants forged and fraudulently created paperwork to secure new titles showing false lower mileage on these vehicles, and then sold the vehicles directly to individuals and automobile dealerships at much higher prices.  Some of these rolled-back vehicles were subsequently sold by the dealerships to consumers in the Mississippi area and elsewhere.  Over 200 vehicles have been confirmed with rolled-back odometers. The case is the result of an investigation by the United States Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Office of Odometer Fraud Investigation, with assistance from the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the U.S. Marshals Service.  It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Keesha Middleton. Odometer fraud is the disconnection, resetting, or alteration of a vehicle’s odometer with the intent to change the number of miles indicated. NHTSA estimates that more than 450,000 vehicles are sold each year with … Continue Reading

Illinois Motor Vehicle Employee Known as “The Plate Plan” Sentenced for Vehicle Registration Fraud Scheme

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Department of Justice St. Louis, MO – Melvin Harmon was sentenced to 33 months incarceration and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $119,359.92 for conspiracy to defraud the United States and mail fraud by assisting Missouri residents in registering their cars in Illinois. According to evidence at trial, between January 1, 2015 and December 20, 2016, Melvin Harmon was employed at a Granite City, Illinois office registering vehicles for the State of Illinois Secretary of State. He used his employment to assist Missouri residents in obtaining fraudulent motor vehicle registrations for others in exchange for a fee. Some of the Missouri residents learned of his services when they saw flyers advertising Harmon as “The Plate Man.” In March 2016, investigators with the Illinois Secretary of State discovered that Harmon had been charging Missouri residents $350.00 to $700.00 in order to fraudulently register their cars in Illinois. Doing so enabled the Missouri residents to evade payment of Missouri taxes. In addition, Harmon altered the price of the vehicles in order to reduce any payments that would be paid to the State of Illinois as a result of the fraudulent registration. The alteration increased the amount he profited through the scheme. The State of Missouri lost in excess of $119,359.92 in sales tax revenue due to the fraudulent conduct. The precise loss of personal property tax income to the State of Missouri and local municipalities has not been determined. Harmon, 40, Belleville, IL, was found guilty on May 18, 2108 after a federal jury returned five guilty verdicts. He appeared before U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey. The case was investigated by the Missouri Department of Revenue-Compliance and Investigation Bureau and the State of Illinois Secretary of State Police. This case was handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Tracy Berry … Continue Reading

Kennett man pleads guilty to fraud charge

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CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — The United States Attorney’s Office announced that Nicholas H. Brock, 36, of Kennett, Missouri, pled guilty to one felony count of mail fraud. He appeared before United States District Judge John A. Ross. Brock admitted that beginning on or about Feb. 10, 2017, and continuing through about June 13, 2017, in Dunklin County, Missouri, he defrauded a lienholder for an over-the-road tractor-trailer truck financed by North Mill Equipment Finance, LLC, for a 2008 Peterbilt over-the-road truck in which the lender retained a security interest. Brock prepared and sent, via the mail, a Form 4577, Missouri Department of Revenue, Vehicle Owner and Lienholder notification to the lender, falsely claiming that a 2008 Peterbilt over-the-road tractor-trailer truck had been towed by his towing company, Elite Tow & Recovery, from Pendleton, Oregon, on February 10, 2017, for a “breakdown.” The towing charge was $16,096 plus storage costs of $100 a day. Brock mailed the fraudulent Form 4577 for the purpose of obtaining a clean title for that vehicle from the Missouri Department of Revenue as an abandoned vehicle, based on the lienholder’s failure to pay the tow bill after receiving notice of the bill. Brock also prepared a Form 4576, Missouri Department of Revenue Abandoned Property Affidavit, in which Brock falsely represented to the Missouri Department of Revenue that the 2008 Peterbilt truck had been abandoned. Brock mailed that form to the Missouri Department of Revenue to obtain a Certificate of Title for the over-the-road truck, based on a bogus and false tow bill. On or about May 11, 2017, Brock caused the mailing of an Application for Missouri Title and License for the 2008 Peterbilt over-the-road truck to the Missouri Department of Revenue to obtain a Missouri Certificate of Title for the 2008 Peterbilt truck. Brock then obtained … Continue Reading