DILLON, SC (WBTW) – New charges filed against a Dillon car dealership owner suggests wrong VINs were being reported during vehicle registration and obtaining insurance, and cars sold from the lot still had liens from previous owners.
Five incident reports from the Dillon Police Department charge Brandon Davis, owner of Davis Family Auto Center, with breach of trust.
The first incident report involves a man who told police he purchased a 2004 Toyota van from Davis’ dealership, and after the first reports of breach of trust by the Davis, the van owner was urged to ensure his vehicle purchase was legitimate. An officer ran the van’s tags through central dispatch, and the numbers came back clear. However, when the officer compared the VIN on the vehicle to what was listed on the registration, the numbers did not match. The case was moved to the investigative department, according to the report.
Another former Davis Family Auto Center customer contacted Dillon police to say she has been unable to register the 2008 Chevrolet Malibu she bought from Davis’ lot, the police report states. That victim’s case was also passed on to the investigative team dealing with the “ongoing investigation involving the dealership and [Davis],” according to the report.
A third incident report explains how a Davis Family Auto Center customer purchased a 2008 Pontiac G-5 at the end of March. Insurance that was taken out on the car, however, is on a 2010 Pontiac G-6 with a different VIN than the car purchased. When the customer asked for a Carfax report from the dealership, the customer noticed the report they were given “had been cut off where it shows the make, model, VIN number, etc.”
A fourth complaint filed against Davis came from a customer who said they purchased a car at the beginning of March from Davis Family Auto Center and could not get tags for the vehicle. The victim had paid the auto dealership $3,000 at the time of reporting the possible crime, according to the report. When officers with Dillon police ran the vehicle VIN number, the car came back registered to a Latta resident and had a lien from American Credit Acceptance in Spartanburg, SC.
The fifth police report released Thursday says a victim purchased a car from Davis Family Auto Center in December. The victim told police they drove the vehicle off the lot with paper tags after Davis told them he would obtain permanent tags in January. When the victim returned to inquire about the tag, Davis wrote another paper tag with a new date on it. According to the report, this happened for several months before the victim returned to the car dealership and Davis gave the victim all of the paperwork and told the customer to get the tags themselves. Police were able to confirm the vehicle was never transferred to Davis, and a check of the VIN went back to the previous owner who lives in Florida.
The five new charges of breach of trust come after the dealership owner was charged with 13 other breach of trust charges – 11 for more than $10,000 and two for $2,000 to $10,000.
