Car salesmen accused of taking life savings
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Car salesmen accused of taking life savings
Mentally ill man lost $101,200 in plot
By HECTOR CASTRO AND CASEY MCNERTHNEY
P-I REPORTERS
Richard Grey lived for more than a decade with his mother in the Lam Bow apartments in West Seattle. Not trusting banks, he faithfully cashed his Social Security checks and squirreled the money away in Bartell Drugs bags.
Last summer, he used $30,000 in cash carried in one of those plastic bags to buy a new pickup truck from longtime Seattle dealership Huling Bros. Auto Center.
That, King County prosecutors said Friday, put the mentally unstable man at the mercy of thieves -- thieves who worked at the auto dealership.
Investigators said the 60-year-old man was cheated out of $101,200 -- his life savings -- in an intricate plot that involved 11 dealership employees.
Earlier this week, King County prosecutors charged former sales manager Adrian G. Dillard, 32, and former salesman Ted Coxwell, 39, with burglary and theft. Dillard was also charged with money laundering. Former salesman Paul Rimbey, 39, was charged with theft.
"It was unbelievable," said Seattle police Detective Caryn Lee, who works on cases of fraud involving vulnerable victims.
Police do not know what has become of most of Grey's missing money.
"It's gone," Lee said.
Steve Huling, 59, who sold the dealership two weeks ago, refunded Grey the $30,000 purchase price after learning of the events.
"I thought it was the right thing to do," Huling said Friday.
But news of the arrests shocked Ryan Gee, whose family bought Huling Bros.
"To say this is concerning is an enormous understatement. This is far from the realm of the way we do business," Gee said.
Neighbors said Grey, who has been committed to Western State Hospital, deteriorated after his mother moved to an adult care home, leaving him alone.
"At 6:15 in the morning, he'd come out and howl for a good 10 to 15 minutes," said building maintenance mechanic Jim Alberts.
"From the minute you met this guy, you could tell he was mentally disturbed," resident manager Abdi-asis Farah said.
The salesman who sold Grey the pickup told police he was at first doubtful that his customer had the money. At the time, Grey was wearing soiled clothing and had "apparent mental problems," according to court documents released Friday.
But Grey told the salesman he had a lot of cash at home. So the salesman drove Grey to his apartment on Delridge Way Southwest, and Grey emerged with a bag stuffed with $30,000 in $100 bills.
The sale became the talk of the floor, witnesses told police. What also soon became common knowledge was that Grey had boasted of having much more, as much as another $100,000 in cash in his apartment.
Grey contacted the dealership again after his new pickup was impounded.
.
The salesman told investigators he and another employee drove Grey to Mercer Island to retrieve the truck.
When word of this spread, witnesses told investigators, some employees planned to break into Grey's apartment while he was gone and search for cash inside.
Investigators now believe Coxwell and Dillard did just that, possibly stealing as much as $70,000 in cash.
At least two others admitted breaking into the apartment at other times, but did not find any large amounts of cash to steal. They have not been charged with any crime and more charges are not expected.
In court documents released Friday, prosecutors contend that the theft became well-known among several employees who were not involved.
On July 27, Grey called Seattle police to report his truck stolen. It had actually been towed away yet again.
Police found Grey wearing pants soiled with feces and urine, found piles of human feces throughout the apartment, and saw that Grey had a roll of money stuffed in a shirt pocket.
Grey said he had just paid cash for the truck and added that he believed someone from the dealership had stolen $75,000.
Police did not have enough information to pursue the case, but because Grey was unable to care for himself, he was involuntarily committed to Western State Hospital.
In November, an undercover Washington State Patrol detective learned about a burglary involving Huling Bros. employees in West Seattle that targeted a mentally disabled man.
Investigators discovered that Dillard took more than $20,000 in $100 bills to a bank just days after the burglary and purchased four cashier's checks, using the money to pay off credit card debts, court documents say.
Coxwell, fired shortly after the burglary for drug use, showed up at the dealership a week later with $1,300 in $100 bills, paying off a car.
Investigators also discovered that while Grey was held in the psychiatric unit at Harborview Medical Center, Rimbey had the mentally handicapped man sign the truck over to him. The paperwork was notarized at the hospital, the documents state.
P-I reporter Craig Harris contributed to this report. P-I reporter Hector Castro can be reached at 206-903-5396 or hectorcastro@seattlepi.com.
©1996-2007 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Car salesmen accused of taking life savings
Mentally ill man lost $101,200 in plot
By HECTOR CASTRO AND CASEY MCNERTHNEY
P-I REPORTERS
Richard Grey lived for more than a decade with his mother in the Lam Bow apartments in West Seattle. Not trusting banks, he faithfully cashed his Social Security checks and squirreled the money away in Bartell Drugs bags.
Last summer, he used $30,000 in cash carried in one of those plastic bags to buy a new pickup truck from longtime Seattle dealership Huling Bros. Auto Center.
That, King County prosecutors said Friday, put the mentally unstable man at the mercy of thieves -- thieves who worked at the auto dealership.
Investigators said the 60-year-old man was cheated out of $101,200 -- his life savings -- in an intricate plot that involved 11 dealership employees.
Earlier this week, King County prosecutors charged former sales manager Adrian G. Dillard, 32, and former salesman Ted Coxwell, 39, with burglary and theft. Dillard was also charged with money laundering. Former salesman Paul Rimbey, 39, was charged with theft.
"It was unbelievable," said Seattle police Detective Caryn Lee, who works on cases of fraud involving vulnerable victims.
Police do not know what has become of most of Grey's missing money.
"It's gone," Lee said.
Steve Huling, 59, who sold the dealership two weeks ago, refunded Grey the $30,000 purchase price after learning of the events.
"I thought it was the right thing to do," Huling said Friday.
But news of the arrests shocked Ryan Gee, whose family bought Huling Bros.
"To say this is concerning is an enormous understatement. This is far from the realm of the way we do business," Gee said.
Neighbors said Grey, who has been committed to Western State Hospital, deteriorated after his mother moved to an adult care home, leaving him alone.
"At 6:15 in the morning, he'd come out and howl for a good 10 to 15 minutes," said building maintenance mechanic Jim Alberts.
"From the minute you met this guy, you could tell he was mentally disturbed," resident manager Abdi-asis Farah said.
The salesman who sold Grey the pickup told police he was at first doubtful that his customer had the money. At the time, Grey was wearing soiled clothing and had "apparent mental problems," according to court documents released Friday.
But Grey told the salesman he had a lot of cash at home. So the salesman drove Grey to his apartment on Delridge Way Southwest, and Grey emerged with a bag stuffed with $30,000 in $100 bills.
The sale became the talk of the floor, witnesses told police. What also soon became common knowledge was that Grey had boasted of having much more, as much as another $100,000 in cash in his apartment.
Grey contacted the dealership again after his new pickup was impounded.
.
The salesman told investigators he and another employee drove Grey to Mercer Island to retrieve the truck.
When word of this spread, witnesses told investigators, some employees planned to break into Grey's apartment while he was gone and search for cash inside.
Investigators now believe Coxwell and Dillard did just that, possibly stealing as much as $70,000 in cash.
At least two others admitted breaking into the apartment at other times, but did not find any large amounts of cash to steal. They have not been charged with any crime and more charges are not expected.
In court documents released Friday, prosecutors contend that the theft became well-known among several employees who were not involved.
On July 27, Grey called Seattle police to report his truck stolen. It had actually been towed away yet again.
Police found Grey wearing pants soiled with feces and urine, found piles of human feces throughout the apartment, and saw that Grey had a roll of money stuffed in a shirt pocket.
Grey said he had just paid cash for the truck and added that he believed someone from the dealership had stolen $75,000.
Police did not have enough information to pursue the case, but because Grey was unable to care for himself, he was involuntarily committed to Western State Hospital.
In November, an undercover Washington State Patrol detective learned about a burglary involving Huling Bros. employees in West Seattle that targeted a mentally disabled man.
Investigators discovered that Dillard took more than $20,000 in $100 bills to a bank just days after the burglary and purchased four cashier's checks, using the money to pay off credit card debts, court documents say.
Coxwell, fired shortly after the burglary for drug use, showed up at the dealership a week later with $1,300 in $100 bills, paying off a car.
Investigators also discovered that while Grey was held in the psychiatric unit at Harborview Medical Center, Rimbey had the mentally handicapped man sign the truck over to him. The paperwork was notarized at the hospital, the documents state.
P-I reporter Craig Harris contributed to this report. P-I reporter Hector Castro can be reached at 206-903-5396 or hectorcastro@seattlepi.com.
©1996-2007 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
posted by Walking Contradiction at 1/21/2007 08:32:00 AM
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