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Former Cape Girardeau car salesman charged Thursday with stealing by deceitFriday, January 9, 2009
Aaron Alfred Evans, 48, of Bertrand, Mo., is charged with three counts of stealing by deceit and is suspected of "using various lies to trick three victims into giving him money," Swingle said. Auffenburg Chrysler, where Evans worked at the time of the incidents, is blameless in the situation and reported the thefts to police, Swingle said. The alleged scams involved false claims to Auffenburg customers that the dealership was conducting a promotional special where they could pay several payments up front, and the business would make the remaining payments. One of the victims said was informed by Evans that he would make all payments for one year if she paid him $1,150, according to a probable-cause statement by Detective Shawn Davis. Another victim agreed to pay $1,268.20 for the first four payments, with the understanding the company would make the next eight payments, the statement said. "His lies induced her to part with her money," Swingle said. In a third scam, Evans allegedly had a customer place a $500 down payment on a vehicle at Auffenburg, then a few days later informed her she had not passed the credit approval for the necessary loan, and her money would be refunded. He never refunded the money, she told police. "The scams used by this defendant sounded believable because of all the well-publicized real promotions offered by various car dealers during these uncertain economic times," Swingle said. The ruse was actually the first police have seen in Cape Girardeau in which someone appeared to have preyed on insecurities fueled by the economy, said Sgt. Barry Hovis, spokesman for the police department. "A scammer will use whatever is hot or believable to trick people into giving them money," Hovis said. If convicted, Evans could face up to 21 years in prison. Bond was set at $10,000 cash only. 388-3635 Comments  Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, please Login or Create an account first, and then you will be able to flag a comment as objectionable. Please also note that those who post comments on semissourian.com may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.
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I hope the dealership refunded the victims money. In the eye of the victim, the salesman was acting on behalf of the dealership so therefore should not have reason to doubt their offers. The dealer may not have a legal responsibility but perhaps a moral one. My employer holds me accountable for how i represent them.
There are other victims out there. I know people who gave him money for lifetime oil changes from the dealership after they purchased vehicles. We bought a car from him a couple of years ago and went back this summer to make a trade. He was noticibly different. We didn't feel comfortable and ending up buying elsewhere. Hard to believe we saw something wrong and the dealership - his employer - saw him everday and noticed nothing. Hmmmmm. . .
Were these people giving him cash? Cash is never ever a smart thing to do in a business transaction. If they weren't, why didn't the dealership bookkeepers notice right away? If I were in Swingle's position, I'd have people going over those books with a fine tooth comb.
Aren't most car salesmen crooks by trade anyway?
That's why they bundle your loan with things like satellite radio subscriptions that you don't want or even know you have. They also play the "let me talk with my manager" game and say things like "let's not talk price, let's talk about how much a month."
They're all crooks.
I can't believe for one moment that these people did not complain to Auffenberg and that Auffenberg did not know about it.
I thought it strange that Swingle was so quick to give the dealership a "free Pass" when this story broke.
I thought it strange that someone would actually believe that they were gonna get 12 payments made for the price of 4....
Seriously? What were they thinking? I do feel sorry for the one that lost a down payment, that was not her fault... but if someone tells you to write them a check and they will "take care" of the rest of your payments? HELLO? Common sense people!
I was just wondering... did these people actually make their checks out to this guy directly?
Again, seriously?
No wonder the victim did not want to be identified on the news! What's that they say about a fool and his money?
I am one of the victims in this scam. First let me say that as unbelievable as it sounds now at the time Aaron Evans was very convincing about this "deal." It did not take me long to realize that something was up and so then I went to Mr. Evans and demanded my money back, and he actually wrote me a check to cash. Of course the check was no good. Once I realized that he was not going to give back my money I went to the management. I was the first to tell them of this and they went to the police the next day. I urge anyone else that has been scamed to go to the police. This man deserves to be behind bars for what he did. One last note is that I sure have not been offered any money back from Auffenburg. That would be nice but I will not hold my breath to ever see my money again.
I agree .. in moral interest, the ladies down payment should be refunded. I, too, dont agree that Auffenburgh is entirely innocent either .. my bet is that this is just the one guy who got caught .. i'd start check records and drug testing the management there
to the great mosely---i think that there are alot of people that would disagree with you on all car dealers being crooks,there are several good dealers out there--so if you have only dealt with "crooks"you should get out more!!! as far as the dealership not knowing what was going on i find that hard to believe because if i were to have a problem and my salesperson couldn't(or wouldn't)help i would immediately talk to a manager,so i find it very hard to believe that this was going on under there noses
You are correct, it was unfair of me to lump the salesmen into one group. Guess I took the lawyer joke approach.
I will say that I bought a car at Auffenberg and it was a great experience. This was about 5 years ago. The car still runs great and the staff was great.
I have also purchased cars at Ford Groves and Crown. They were nice as well.
There is one place in town I dare not say for fear of being deleted that sold me a car and the salesmen lied about the accident it had been in. He said the Carfax wasn't working but that we had the dealerships word it was clean.
When we discovered it a year later the sales guy was gone and we had nothing in writing.
Did anyone actually read the story?
THE DEALERSHIP REPORTED THIS TO THE POLICE AS SOON AS THEY FOUND OUT.
They did nothing wrong--this scumbag was the only one involved. I think I'll go buy a new car today just to show my support.
Not so fast on Auffenburg being completely innoscent. My question is: Did these folks write checks straight to Evans? Or the Dealership?
Additionally...didn't the dealership ask where the money was when the cars were leaving the lots? Somethings not quite right here.
"Hard to believe we saw something wrong and the dealership - his employer - saw him everday and noticed nothing. Hmmmmm. . ."
-- Posted by Jackson_Mom on Thu, Jan 8, 2009, 7:09 pm CDT
Several Good points here, I suggest an investigation be opened on the entire dealership. I think it would be a bit blinkard to think this is a one man show. I'm sure the "Dealership" isn't beyond selling out "one" salesman...to save the ship.
"Did anyone actually read the story?"
-- Posted by Just_Me on Fri, Jan 9, 2009, 1:14 pm CDT
LOL! Do you actually believe everything you read? I've dealt with this dealership. Nothing would surprise me.
As your boss, I command you to do your job Morley, and start digging!
"Did anyone actually read the story?"
-- Posted by Just_Me on Fri, Jan 9, 2009, 1:14 pm CDT
LOL! Do you actually believe everything you read? I've dealt with this dealership. Nothing would surprise me.
As your boss, I command you to do your job Morley, and start digging!
"Did anyone actually read the story?"
-- Posted by Just_Me on Fri, Jan 9, 2009, 1:14 pm CDT
LOL! Do you actually believe everything you read? I've dealt with this dealership. Nothing would surprise me.
As your boss, I command you to do your job Morley, and start digging!
Yeah. I just fell off the turnip truck. Are you always so negative, cynical, and suspicious of everything you read? I rarely make or read comments because I get tired of everyone getting personal & accusing people when they don't know what they are talking about.
My understanding was that they did the usual contract stuff & this was on the side. The buyer did the financing & down payment with the finance guy, then the salesman worked this scheme outside of the official deal. The fella that handles the financing there is an honest man and would not have been in on the crime.
I'm sure Morley The Publicity Hound would not have hesitated to try to take down one of Auffenberg's 9 dealerships, or heck, the whole company had there been any indication of wrong doing.
Oh, and one more thing.
The dealership doesn't owe anyone any money. The crook does. I'm sure restitution will be part of any settlement or sentencing.
Megalomania...
Get real! This is a huge business with many employees. One person that worked there scammed 3 and possibly more people by contacting them directly outside of their dealings with the rest of the dealership.
To suggest that a dealership would do something this STUPID to several people and think they would not get caught is ridiculous. Oh, wait, you think that turning in this guy is just to cover up all of their shady dealings. Makes a lot of sense to risk everything in a huge dealership to make a couple of thousand dollars with an ignorant and blatant scam...???
Get real! They found out, they fired him, they turned him in to the police. What else could they do? These are people trying to make a living in an already tough market. The last thing they need is an idiot like this giving them a bad name, and a person like you trying to fan the flames.
Trust me - if Swingle thinks he can get a book deal out of this it will have legs.