Titles Unlimited

[Don]

Been away from CC for a few weeks, not sure if the recap on Titles Unlimited had been previously posted:

Alabama man arrested in $14 million fraud case

By Don Thompson
ASSOCIATED PRESS


SACRAMENTO - An Alabama man has been convicted for his role in a wide-ranging scam that may have cost California $14 million in lost taxes and license fees since 1975, the state attorney general's office said Wednesday.


Arrest warrants simultaneously were issued for four California businessmen alleged to have helped their customers avoid smog requirements by fraudulently registering their vehicles.


Richard Clark Weaver, 56, of Birmingham, Ala., owner of Titles Unlimited, also doing business as Pinson Valley Auto Sales, was convicted Friday of providing fraudulent vehicle purchase agreements to California owners for $200 by mail. The agreements gave a false year the vehicle had been manufactured, and falsely said the vehicles had been purchased from Weaver at a low price.


The owners then could use the false documents to avoid smog registrations and to pay lower taxes. The Department of Motor Vehicles is canceling the registrations, and prosecutors in more than 20 California counties have been notified so they can consider bringing charges against the vehicle owners.


Weaver faces a maximum three-year prison term at his May 7 sentencing.


Investigators found at least five other companies in Alabama, Nevada, New York and Florida that together may have helped in the false registration of as many as 70,000 vehicles, though no charges against them have been filed. Attorney General Bill Lockyer said the investigation will continue into the loss of millions of dollars he said California can ill afford.


Of 613 vehicle purchases Weaver helped falsify since 1999, more than 150 were Cobra "kit" or "replica" cars that typically cost more than $40,000 but were usually registered as older Fords with values of $500, costing the state at least $500,000. One Cobra cost $120,000 but was registered as costing $70,000, prosecutors said.


The four arrest warrants issued Friday are for Lance Stander and Kimberly Marie Calder, both of Tustin, owner and employee, respectively, of Hilbank Motor Corp. in Costa Mesa; Dean Alan Woodruff of Alta Loma, owner of Woodruff's House of Cobras in Anaheim; and Craig Hill of Livermore, owner of Top of the Hill Performance Center in Livermore.


An employee at the Livermore company declined comment; a telephone directory search for the other businesses yielded no listings Wednesday.


Authorities allege they sold the replicas and helped the buyers falsely register the vehicles.


The probe began in October 2001 with Yolo County's investigation of former Woodland police officer Terry Brown's registration of a 2000 Superperformance Cobra using Weaver's documents. He pleaded guilty in April 2002 to making a false statement to DMV, repaid $3,030 and performed 80 hours of public service.