Patricia Smith, the former controller of an auto dealership in Pennsylvania, is headed to jail after embezzling $10 million from her former boss in a stunning case of a trusted employee looting the business then squandering the cash on luxuries. Smith, who worked at Baierl Acura located in Wexford, Pa., an upper-middle class suburb of Pittsburgh, was convicted of systematically stealing for seven years–some $4,000 a day on average–for private jet travel, special trips to the theatre, fancy clothes and other goods, according to the court. A costume fitting on Broadway? Check. Super Bowl Tickets? Check. There were even trips to the Vatican using stolen money. Smith spared no expense for herself or her family on the company’s dime, according to reports from court. The jet charters alone totaled $1.8 million for the high-flying bookkeeper, who officially made about $50,000 a year from the dealership. According to Shannon Pierre, of ABC Pittsburgh affiliate WTAE, who reported on the story from court, Smith’s reason for her crime spree was she felt like a “horrible daughter, wife, mother and friend” and the gifts were a way to “earn their love” because she wanted to see “what happiness looks like.” An attorney for…
The Daily Times of Deleware, Pa., reported this past weekend that one local used-car dealer charged with rolling back the odometer on a 1998 Jeep Cherokee has a different story to tell. The dealer and his attorney are claiming that a mechanical defect was the cause of the erroneous mileage reading. The report stated that David Gill, general manager of DiFilippo Brothers Motor Cars, is being charged with alteration of true mileage statement, deceptive business practices and the misdemeanor charge of tampering with public records. And Gill’s attorney, Michael Malloy, disputes the allegations, blaming the odometer readings on what he called a “mechanical glitch.”
Dave Gill is facing felony charges after complaints by an NBC10 viewer who bought a car at the lot he manages in Prospect Park. A used car manager is facing felony charges after the NBC10 Investigators looked into complaints that he tampered with the odometer on one of his Jeeps.
RALEIGH, N.C. – A Raleigh man has been arrested and charged with selling vehicles with altered odometers out of his home. Officials with the NC Division of Motor Vehicles License and Theft Bureau say Francis Marimo had been under investigation for months after a customer reportedly purchased a 2005 Honda Odyssey through an ad on Craigslist. The victim later discovered that the vehicle mileage had been changed. During the investigation, agents learned Marimo would travel to different states to purchase the vehicles, then return to Raleigh where he would allegedly change the odometer cluster and then place the vehicle on Craigslist for sale.