money taken, no motor received

[palulukon]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? arkansas

i needed a new (used) motor for my vehicle. the mechanic said he found me one in Minnesota, cost 1250, plus 300 for shipping, 16 for wire transfer. that was 10 weeks ago. since then his house has burned down, which was preceded by one crisis after another. he kept telling me it was the shipping company, changed company etc. every time i asked for the shipping company contact info he gave an excuse. the last excuse was it was in his credit card number and did not feel comfortable giving that out. he finally called last Thursday and said he had it all straightened out with the shipping company and would call me by friday with the details. it is now Thursday. i have a canceled check signed by his wife for 1556.00, and a receipt signed by him. i also have his voice mail messages saved. he has not been at his shop due to the house fire, and the only phone number i have is for his shop. he is however, very findable by the police as this is a small town. i just don't know what to do. i trusted this man, and he may just be a complete screw up...but now i think he got in over his head, thought he could find a motor and now can't.

what is my next step. is this a felony if he is indeed lying?

we have an animal sanctuary, a 501 c 3, this was all that we had to spend on the vehicle. what he has done has not only hurt me but compromised the well being of the whole sanctuary.

any help very much appreciated.

palulukon

 

[JETX]

what is my next step.

Your next step should be to your county small claims court.

is this a felony if he is indeed lying?

'Lying', in itself, is not a crime. However, if you feel that a crime did occur... contact your local law enforcement and file a complaint.

 

[palulukon]

asking for further clarification

arkansas

thank you for the reply. i am trying to find out what amount constitutes felony fraud. if in fact there never was a motor then that is fraud right? this is all new terrain for me. i have listened to excuse after excuse. i thought he was just a poor businessman. now i am thinking that he was making the whole thing up all along. i have no way to reach him since his house burned down, except thru his business which he is never at.

my question if i go to the prosecutor is since his wife endorsed the check and he gave me a signed receipt are they both liable?

small claims court would do nothing. you get a judgment, so what. doesn't mean they pay.

if in fact there was no motor ever then i want them to be charged. i just can't find anywhere on the net what is felony, like, what is the amount that takes it from misdemeanor to felony. i would rather be armed with the information when i leave him yet another message on his voice mail, which he does check. if he gets worried enough he just might find the money or a way to get it.

 

[JETX]

i am trying to find out what amount constitutes felony fraud.

Based on a CURSORY review of the Arkansas statutes, it appears the following would apply:
5-36-103. Theft of property.
(a) A person commits theft of property if he or she:
(1) Knowingly takes or exercises unauthorized control over, or makes an unauthorized transfer of an interest in, the property of another person, with the purpose of depriving the owner thereof; or
(2) Knowingly obtains the property of another person, by deception or by threat, with the purpose of depriving the owner thereof.
<snip>
(2) Theft of property is a Class C felony if:
(A) The value of the property is less than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) but more than five hundred dollars ($500);

if in fact there never was a motor then that is fraud right?

Nope. Theft would be the appropriate charge.

my question if i go to the prosecutor is since his wife endorsed the check and he gave me a signed receipt are they both liable?

Generally, no. One (likely the wife) would have been operating as an 'agent' of the business 'owner' (husband).

small claims court would do nothing. you get a judgment, so what. doesn't mean they pay.

Whether they pay or not is entirely up to you... and their non-exempt assets.

if in fact there was no motor ever then i want them to be charged. i just can't find anywhere on the net what is felony, like, what is the amount that takes it from misdemeanor to felony. i would rather be armed with the information when i leave him yet another message on his voice mail, which he does check. if he gets worried enough he just might find the money or a way to get it.

Why are you so concerned about their charges?? Simply file the criminal complaint. The police, prosecutor and courts will handle what, if any, charges are appropriate.

 

[palulukon]

thank you very much JETX

i have been up since 3 am trying to research the issue. seems all the search engines do is refer me to commercial sites. you have clarified the issues, ie, theft vs fraud, and class c felony. i did find out in search that if he tries to flee the state, and i do know where he is from and would likely go to, then that is another criminal charge in and of itself...can't remember the term, but was relieved to see that also.

there is the smallest glimmer of hope that he is just a real space cadet. if you met him you would understand this statement. seems like such a really nice fellow that is just not business savvy. i don't want to file charges unless i can be sure. will do some leg work today to try and locate him and also leave a letter at his business with the information about class c etc...

it has been ten weeks since i gave him the check. shipping cannot possibly take that long...or can it?????? that is the question. however, when i play in my mind all the excuses...and excuses...and never giving me the shipping information. he has three small children that just had their home burn down. i think what it will do to them. this has been a real emotional roller coaster for me and my husband.

i will post any updates in case it might help others.

thank you again.

 

[JETX]

it has been ten weeks since i gave him the check.

So, why are you here... and not at your local small claims court??

 

[palulukon]

update

arkansas

well, first to thank everyone here for their help. referencing class c felony did get john's attention. at that point he was forced to tell us there was a motor in new york being shipped. he had wanted a few more days (so the motor could arrive and he could disguise his scam) but we said now or the police if we do not get the shipping co and a contact number. the shipping broker took pity on us and gave us some pertinent info, the tracking number, after she cked that there was nothing legally from prohibiting her from telling us. from the tracking info we found out who sold the motor and contacted him. we cked his rating on ebay, stellar, his rating in Toyota community, excellent, and feel pretty darn good about the motor. by talking with him directly able to go over finer points of rebuild, specs etc so we know what to do before transplant. this is all info we would never have had since john keeps insisting the motor was from iowa and somehow wound up in new york. idiots abound.

we were told we bought a motor in iowa from a 93 with 18,000 miles complete with ac, starter, alternator...what we got was a rebuild from an 89 with 103,000 on the starter, alternator, and no ac replacement. we have to fix the ac because we use this vehicle to transport animal beings. when we first started dealing with john we said do not go on ebay and buy a rebuild (too many issues with rebuilds) and he turned around and did exactly what we said we did not want to do. fortunately he bought from someone who has a good reputation in the Toyota community, but john had no way of knowing that, and did not ask the seller anything about the motor...he just wanted a motor to put in, that simple. without the info from the seller we would have had several issues with the rebuild that could have caused real problems not knowing before hand. with all the info the seller has shared the transplant should go fine. john supposedly paid for the iowa motor upfront and then calls us saying he is short on bill money and could we reimburse him...red flag one...red flag two, the shipping cost estimate went from 250 to 300 in the course of the conversation. i just did not have the where with all to say john, this is already causing me some concerns. i wanted to believe he was a good person. he seemed so likable. he paid for the motor over two months ago and then did not bother to arrange shipping. all the times i called, sometimes in tears...and he just kept lying. making another rule of thumb...no more than one excuse and the excuse has to be verified.

we did get screwed for not quite 200 after all is said and done but we do have a motor and it looks to be a good one. john is going to refund part of the money, but not all, which leaves us with being out 200. i just want to be done with it. it is a negative energy field and we want to move on.

i did find out in arkansas wages can be garnished along with property seized and auctioned just in case anyone wants to know.

as we trace the events, the day his house burned down was the day he finally paid for shipping...and his favorite possession, his Harley, perished in the fire. he is also loosing his business. that is just a small recounting of the things that have happened to him in this past couple of weeks. sometimes there is a higher justice.

the thing i have learned and i am sure this comes up time and time again...get everything in writing, EVERYTHING. however, even if we had it spelled out in blood it would still mean taking him to court. the other thing we should have done was not give him the money till we talked to the person selling the motor and had some documentation faxed to us. that would have stopped the whole scam cold.

you know what it is...you don't want to act like you don't trust someone when they act like they are really wanting to help. however, hindsight is always superior, and hindsight says business is business and in business you do things according to certain protocols.

and i broke my own rule of thumb...when someone starts telling me how honest they are i need to lock my doors. if you are honest you don't have to tell anyone...you just are. from the beginning john said how he believed in honesty as there were so many crooked mechanics. he kept stressing the honesty issue. i should have known better.

consider this my lesson learned...and it will never happen again.

that being said, thank you that helped me in my night of emotional turmoil. i was at the end of my limits and your caring helped me thru a rough night, and gave me the leverage to get the info i needed.

many, many thanks,

rose

 

[dallas702]

Just so you'll know for the next time you want to do an engine swap, there are reputable dealers who import very low mileage engines from cars in Japan. Their smog rules don't allow high mileage engines, so you can get a true "young" 18K engine for very a good price.

Don't cry for John. I suspect he has insurance and will file a claim immediately. I'd give a call to his state's insurance fraud division, though, if you really want to see some "burning".

 

[palulukon]

hi dallas, your post gave me a chuckle. the only insurance on the home was thru the landlady, and john started having troubles with her the month before. turns out she screwed him by not filing the original escrow papers with the county courthouse, and john never cked. she is an eccentric ole bat, history of such, so looks like he is loosing everything. she has a history of "selling" the house then pulling a fast one. she was so furious the house burned that she sent an 8 page letter to the police accusing them of having a meth lab. since a cop lives across the street, unlikely. meth big problem in arkansas, but from what i hear, you can smell it cooking so unlikely. then again...you never know. anyway john is having his own problems there with police interrogation, 3 hours just last week...only to name a few things that have befallen him since he started this scam. i am not so significant that the universe would reek such havoc on someone scamming, but i have noticed in the past that when someone does take advantage of my trusting nature their lives turn into turmoil. the last person to do that lost his home, business, and family. what scammers don't realize is they don't take from me, they take from the animal beings and i think the universe takes issue with that. when scams have happened in the past, no matter how seemingly unfortunate at the time, something very good comes as a result. it has always worked this way. when the really good comes i am always humbled by the experience.

i realized that remaining in the energy field with john was counter productive and not in alignment with my heart. regardless of anything, there are three small children involved and i cannot divorce myself from my actions affecting them any more than john can divorce himself from his actions affecting the animal beings here. that is when i let it all go. my heart felt no longer heavy...and i need a light heart to do what i need to do here.

the low mileage engines in japan...we had researched that. i get conflicting info...some say excellent, others say the japanese drive them hard with inadequate maintenance so when the motors arrive here they are not in the best of health. no one mentioned the issue you did however, so i will certainly look into it should the occasion arise.

by being able to talk to carl, many times, the original re-builder, he has gone above and beyond in the rebuild, and lost money on the transaction. he replaced, re-machined and cleaned things that do not come with standard rebuild. he is an incredibly nice fellow and has been more than willing to give us all information we ask. from that information it looks like we have a really good engine to transplant and we are more than encouraged. because of our incessant questions on toy forums we have learned more about the 3.0 engine, that has numerous issues (that we knew about) and we have learned of exhaust modifications that will take care of the issues. all of this we would not have learned in such detail had their not been the hassle. we have also learned about modifications that will increase mpg, which is not the best with this engine and body. it is a win/win situation.

john has agreed to refund 300. once i calmed down and spoke from my heart i brought up the ac issue that i paid for but not received and said if he wanted to contribute anything above and beyond it would be appreciated. in a quiet voice john said we will work something out. will see today when we pick "frog" up. i hold no false hopes with john. however, it will be interesting to see if his conscience moves him to do a little more. if he doesn't feel moved i have pretty much no doubt his troubles will continue. that is not my wish, just how it seems to work.

because of this forum and getting the information we needed john became immediately accessible, home phone and all. that coupled with the wonderful shipping broker lady giving us info that lead to tracking down carl...see, we are looked after.

the fellow doing the transplant is excellent and taking on the job as a special favor to us as he is a tranny man, and legendary in this area. he has great attention to detail and we are more than confident he will make sure it is perfect. his fee is reasonable, a bit more than some, but not that much, and his expertise is worth the extra.

will let you know if john's conscience moves him to add a little extra to the refund.

forums are my greatest source of information. thru this wonderful medium folks can reach out and get practical "i have been there" or "do this" help. sometimes just having a place to vent is comfort much needed. the night i wrote on this forum i was in tears. we never know just how much of a lifeline we provide by our caring...

by caring about each other we make this world a better place to live...

rose