Two people authorities believe helped sell more than 200 Hummers with phony titles and improperly export many of them are now facing federal fraud charges.
FBI agent Andy Thomure said Wednesday that a former salesman at the Omaha car dealership that sold the Hummers has been arrested. The other person charged is a woman who owned the Overland Park, Kan., trucking company involved, but she had not yet been arrested.
Many of the vehicles sold by the Huber dealership in 2005 and 2006 were bought by a small broker in Chillicothe, Mo. Most of the Hummers were resold overseas and exported to Nigeria, Germany, Canada, Japan and elsewhere, according to investigators. The fraudulent titles allowed the buyers to collect more than $500,000 in unearned incentives from General Motors that they shouldn't have been eligible to collect.
Both people charged this week are facing 11 counts of wire fraud and one charge of conspiracy, Thomure said.
Thomure said former Huber salesman Steve Romshek was arrested Tuesday and was to make his initial appearance in federal court Wednesday.
Marilyn Maskill, who owns Corporate Auto Movers trucking company, had not been arrested as of Wednesday morning.
Ron Huber said his Omaha dealership cooperated with investigators and settled the matter with General Motors and regulators several years ago.
“As far as we're concerned, it's way behind us,” Huber said.
The Huber dealership paid a $100,000 fine in 2008 to a state licensing board but did not admit wrongdoing. The fine was the largest ever ordered by the Nebraska Vehicle Industry Licensing Board.
The owners of the Missouri car brokerage involved in the scheme, Patrice and Ed Robertson, were not charged this week, but the indictment talks extensively about their business' involvement.
The Robertsons' lawyer, Jim Wyrsch of Kansas City, Mo., declined to comment on the case Wednesday.
Investigators believe the Robertsons' businesses in Chillicothe bought more than 200 Hummers from Huber in 2005 and 2006. Most of those were sold to Ace Auto Sales of San Gabriel, Calif., Toronto Auto Wholesale of Ontario, Canada, and LOR Enterprises LLC of St. Petersburg, Fla., and exported.
Investigators tracked most of the vehicles to other countries, including Nigeria, United Arab Emirates, Germany, China, Japan, Canada and Belgium.
The Nebraska State Patrol launched its investigation in 2006 after several Hummers sold by Huber, ostensibly to local buyers, were not registered in the state.
— AP
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