What do a DMV employee and two car dealership managers have in common? According to deputies....a detailed theft ring. A six month investigation between the Charleston County, South Carolina Sheriff's Office and the State Law Enforcement Division revealed inside jobs and pure profit off new cars.
While most of us would expect to shell out some cash for a new vehicle, deputies say one group of people nabbed 12 cars from the Hyundai Car Dealership on the Savannah Highway...and paid nothing. Sheriff Al Cannon said, "It would not have worked without either someone on the inside at the dealership."
Sheriff Cannon says the Hyundai dealership's general manager, finance manager and a salesman played crucial roles in the car theft ring. He says the dealership employees gave cars to a middle man named Travis Mitchell. Deputies say the managers cleared the cars off the lot by financing them as sold, even though no payments were ever made.
Yet, the inside job goes beyond the dealership...to the Department of Motor Vehicles on Leeds Avenue. News 2 was there when SLED agents arrested DMV Employee Betty Dawson. As agents escorted her to an unmarked car she muttered, "Why are they doing this? Why they trying to do this to me? Get away from me. Open the door."
Deputies say Dawson cleared the car titles for $1,000 per car and put them in Mitchell's name. When asked about that act, Sheriff Cannon said, "One of the reasons law enforcement is as successful as we are is that we're dealing with dummies."
Officials say the cleared titles were then handed over to Mitchell, who sold the vehicles and titles on the street at discount prices. Count on 2's Jenny Fisher said, "Some of the people kept stolen vehicles for themselves. Deputies say Travis Mitchell took his stolen 2006 Acura and along with $10,000 and traded it in for a Jeep Cherokee at a dealership."
Now, that Jeep Cherokee is in the custody of the sheriff's office and it's so-called owner, and several others, are behind bars. In addition to Mitchell and Dawson, deputies now have Hyundai's Finance Manager Gary Collins, General Manager Tim Everhart and Salesman Derald Smalls in custody. They are expected to go to bond court on Thursday.
Deputies say the theft ring was discovered when the Hyundai dealership's owner became suspicious. Banks contacted him, stating they had not received a single payment on a dozen vehicles sold from his dealership. That's when deputies began their investigation.
The 12 stolen cars were worth a total of $277,490. Deputies say the banks, finance companies and the owner of the Hyundai dealership are out the money.
Sheriff Cannon also discussed the buyers of the stolen vehicles. He said if people paid a reasonable price and genuinely believed the sale was legitimate, no charges will be filed.
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