New York State - Division of Criminal Justice Services

Another case that was recently indicted involved a defendant who convinced awealthy family friend to finance vehicles for his used car dealership. The defendantconvinced the friend to finance vehicles without receiving the title to the vehicle. Thedefendant received financing from his friend to purchase vehicles and then thedefendant went to other financial backers and financed the same vehicles a secondtime. When the business finally fell apart and the victim realized there was a problem,the defendant left town. The other financial backers were able to repossess many ofthe vehicles because they held the titles to the vehicles, the defendant’s friend had norecourse and he was simply out $984,000. This defendant was indicted on one countsecond-degree grand larceny and four counts of third-degree grand larceny.This office also has encountered identity theft as a manner of committing theftand fraud cases. A defendant pleaded guilty to second-degree forgery for attempting topurchase two 2009 Chevrolet Malibus using a line of credit in another person’s name.The defendant was employed as a debt collector and he had access to informationregarding Social Security numbers. The defendant went to two separate Chevroletdealers and attempted to take out a line of credit in the name of individual whose IDinformation he had stolen in order to buy a new Malibu for $29,000. However, theinformation he used to fill out the loan application revealed that the individual lives inCalifornia. Luckily, the finance manager at each dealership realized there was aproblem and denied the line of credit at each dealership. The defendant was reportedto the police. He was located at a third dealership test driving a third vehicle, this time aBMW. The defendant is a five-time prior felon and was sentenced to 3 to 6 years instate prison.The primary strategy implemented over the past year has been to aggressivelyprosecute the worst repeat offenders. This strategy has involved increasedcommunication between agencies with an emphasis on more complete investigations ofcases pre-arrest. The office’s goal is to push for more comprehensive, thoroughinvestigations, utilizing assistance from a broad a range of law enforcement agencies inorder to best coordinate the available resources in our region. This method hasprovided greater opportunity to amass better evidence against offenders.This office regularly works with the Buffalo Police Department, CheektowagaPolice Department, Buffalo Fire Department, New York State Police, New York StateInsurance Department, National Insurance Crime Bureau, state Department of MotorVehicles and investigators from insurance companies. In addition to working with lawenforcement, this office also has increasingly worked with local businesses involved inauto sales and scrap processing.NYS DIVISION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE SERVICES MVTIFP BOARD / ANNUAL REPORT 2009 Page 60