Four Employees Of Franklin County Used Car Dealership Face Charges For Odometer Fraud
Anyone who buys a used car approaches the dealership anticipating a strategy game of interpreting double meanings, bluffing, and calling someone else’s bluff. If a car were so awesome, it wouldn’t be available for resale. If the seller were forthcoming about the car being a pile of junk, it would have an irresistibly low price on its price sticker. Buyers try to uncover the flaws of the cars, and negotiate for a lower price accordingly, while sellers try to reveal enough of the car’s faults not to lose the sale based on perceived dishonesty, while concealing enough not to lose the sale based on the fact that the price is too high or the condition of the car is too poor. Against this backdrop, it should surprise no one that customers often complain about used car dealers being less than truthful, and that in the most egregious cases, used car dealership employees sometimes receive criminal charges for financial crimes. If you are an employee of a used car dealership, and you are facing criminal charges in connection to your work, contact a Pittsburgh white collar crime lawyer.
What Is Odometer Fraud?
The odometer is a device within the car that measures how far the car has traveled since it was manufactured. Whether a car has gone through several owners or has always belonged to the same person, the odometer reading keeps going up as people drive the car. One of the ways that unscrupulous car sellers might try to make the car look newer than its true condition is to tamper with the odometer so that it shows that the car has less mileage than it does. In the old days, people could use tools such as screwdrivers to physically change the odometer reading. Today, odometers are computerized, and so are the techniques that people use to falsify their readings. Forensic science has likewise adapted to uncover cases of odometer fraud.
In the News
Frank Burrell, Virgie Waters, Trevor Daniels, and Stephanie Hetzer are employees of Trust Auto in Guilford Township. All of them are facing charges for crimes such as fraud, theft, and conspiracy because of allegations that the dealership sold 33 vehicles with falsified odometer readings. Prosecutors allege that the defendants removed more than 100,000 of apparent mileage from the cars, thereby inflating their value by a total of more than $2.3 million. The vehicles subject to tampering ended up in the possession of customers throughout Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia. When police executed a search warrant on the dealership, after the defrauded customers complained to law enforcement, they found tools used for tampering with odometers, as well as auto titles and other documents showing falsified odometer readings.
Contact Gary E. Gerson About Criminal Defense Cases
A criminal defense lawyer can help you if you are facing criminal charges for financial crimes related to the sale of used cars. Contact the law offices of Gary E. Gerson in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania about your case.
Source:
pennlive.com/crime/2025/09/four-charged-in-multi-state-odometer-fraud-scheme-at-pa-car-dealership.html
