Bad News for HEMI Charger Resto - Shop owners ARRESTED ON FRAUD!!!

[bzabodyn]

Local classic car dealer, son arrested in multi-agency raid


By Jamie Nash
Courier staff
Published: 08.12.08

Multiple agencies converged on a Conroe car dealership Tuesday afternoon where they arrested the owner and his son, seized files and computers and contacted car owners to retrieve their vehicles, officials said.

Conroe Police Criminal Investigators led the investigation which also involved members of the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office, Montgomery County Auto Theft Task Force, the Texas Department of Transportation, the Texas Comptroller's Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according CPD Sgt. Bob Berry.

The operation took place around 1 p.m. at American Classic Cars of Conroe located at 800 West Davis Where Stephen Craig Wood, 66 and his son, 26-year-old Geoffrey Tyler Wood were arrested and charged with felony theft.

CPD Sgt. Bob Berry said the business allegedly conducted illegal transactions involving improper documentation, failed to deliver vehicles for which they were paid, failed to pay owners when their vehicles were sold and wrote checks to customers that were returned for insufficient funds.

Lt. David Moore with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office Auto Theft Task Force said the initial investigation involved around 13 vehicles valued at approximately $517,920.

Seven theft warrants were issued for the father and three theft warrants were issued for the son, according to Moore.

Complaints of fraudulent Internet sales were filed against the business from multiple buyers in the United States as well as foreign countries including Saudi Arabia, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Norway, New Zealand, Australia, and Belgium.



... this is the shop in Conroe where my matching-#'s, '69 HEMI 4-speed Charger is being restored - I'm involved in the criminal suit, so I can't say much, but don't worry about the cars (donor 383, 4-spd charger too) they are in good hands... lucky for me, American Classics subcontracted out another shop, Distinct Automotive, to take over the restos/repairs in progress, and they are legit and have nothing to do with the fraud.  Every single part on both cars is tagged and documented and accounted for, so that's good news (I spent many hours there today making sure) - my issue is that I'm out a TON of money right now and I'm not sure how things are going to pan out... I'll keep you updated as I'm able to... but for now, say a prayer that I can get through this without killing someone and hopefully things will fall into place and we can get the resto rolling again!

Brandon/BZ

[Carrots]

Jeez and to think I nearly used these guys a few weeks back. They were recommended to me by someone here but they ended up quoting off the scale ($900 to paint a door!? ) Lucky escape it would seem.

ps Hope it works out. I've recently been boned by a shop so I know the feeling.

[Magnumcharger]

Sorry to hear about your newest bout of problems.
It sounds like your Charger is magnet for bad karma.

[Drache]

involved around 13 vehicles valued at approximately $517,920.

Thats on average almost $40,000 PER car 

[Hemidoug]

That's why I do ALL my work myself (except for paint)....I'm the only one I trust. Sorry for your problem, but you shoud count your blessings that you are only out the cash. It could have been very much worse.....

[moparstuart]

holy crap dude i feel for you hope it all works out , atleast they didnt sell off your car or parts of it !!

[bzabodyn]

Yep, could always be worse but I just can't catch a f@cking break with this car... it WILL be done and done right, but exactly when??? Criminal investigation could go on for months and civil suits following that, so... 

I have decided that I'm going to put the 383/4spd car back together as much as possible and sell it and use those funds to purchase repro sheetmetal and at least get some of the body work done while we're waiting to see how things pan out... tough deal.

BZ

[moparstuart]

 must be a popular thing for shops in texas to do this and get busted, the elinor shelby clone guys got busted for alot of the same things plus vin fraud  ! 

[hemi-hampton]

Bummer, But, being in the Resto Business for over 20 years all this comes as no surprise to me.   I did Paint work on of Eddie Smiths/Mike Smiths 68 Super Stock Hemi Cuda (ss/aa class) 7 years ago & now I read in the new MCG Mag they were busted for fraud & now selling off the Hemi Cars. LEON.

[bmoparmofo]

Wow, that sucks, hope it works out for you.

[BROCK]

Man, I thought about your car as soon as I started reading that article.  Glad you have all your cars & parts. 

The can only hope & pray the rest will go as it should!

[68charger383]

Hope they make an example of them...

When will people start earning the money instead of trying to do less than the job requires and screw everyone else.

[Charger74]

Man that sucks.  To bad it wasn't hplag though... 

Hope everything works out for you thoug.

[hemi68charger]

Man Brandon !!!!!  Is THAT where you had your car?  Let me know if you need any help......... It would be tight, but I think I could get your car in my garage for a little bit...
On the flip-side,, since the shop where your car's at is a subcontractor, maybe there'll be a discount due to no more middle man............... 

Troy

[tan top]

Man, I thought about your car as soon as I started reading that article.  Glad you have all your cars & parts. 

The can only hope & pray the rest will go as it should!

   yeah thats what i was thinking  .... good to hear your chagers & parts are safe 

[charge69]

Brandon, what a raw deal!  What shop has the car now?   Do you know that they can do the work?   I am sure you gave that shop a ton of money up front and hope you can recover most, if not all of it.  Unfortunately, it will take a long time, most likely.

Let me know if there is anything I can do.

Carl

[The70RT]

I hope you didn't give them much of the 100K they wanted to restore it.

[69*F5*SE]

What a drag. I hope things work out somehow in the end.

[Back N Black]

Wow! that sucks. Whats up with so many people getting burned by body shops?

[The70RT]

Wow! that sucks. Whats up with so many people getting burned by body shops?

A lot of them see a big dollar job then you put a chunk down and they piddle around doing fenderbenders to stay alive and your's just sits there and they do it on slack time. Kinda like a lot of construction companys. They take on more than they can chew so there is always smoething to do but they drag it out jumping around from job to job like they are really doing something.

[HKCharger]

uniqueperformance in dallas and now this shop, what is it with these people??? are there no good shops left??

[mikepmcs]

Hope it all works out....


This made me laugh though.

"say a prayer that I can get through this without killing someone"


prayer/killing... I love it.

v/r
Mike

[Mike DC]

           
How the F to they expect to get sneaky with swiping/selling customers' HEMI MOPARS? 

People have a peculiar habit of wanting those things back.



I can understand if they were playing VIN tag games, but that's not mentioned in the story. 

[GeneralLeeTESH]

HLPAg is NEXT. Watch the papers and your local news !   

[bzabodyn]

Man Brandon !!!!!  Is THAT where you had your car?  Let me know if you need any help......... It would be tight, but I think I could get your car in my garage for a little bit...
On the flip-side,, since the shop where your car's at is a subcontractor, maybe there'll be a discount due to no more middle man............... 

Troy

Thanks Troy... they are pretty safe where they are now (cops are constantly in the area and have already photo-documented the cars/parts) but the Distinct Auto guys are already looking for some place else to move... I'm thinking I might be getting back in touch with Jeff's Resurrections in Taylor next week - waiting on insurance adjuster now to see if there's anything they can help with in the time being...

BZ

[bzabodyn]

Brandon, what a raw deal!  What shop has the car now?   Do you know that they can do the work?   I am sure you gave that shop a ton of money up front and hope you can recover most, if not all of it.  Unfortunately, it will take a long time, most likely.

Let me know if there is anything I can do.

Carl

Thanks Carl - yep, lots of money up front and have a couple fully disassembled cars to show for it... thinking about putting the 383 car back together and seeing what I can get for it just to keep the resto going while things shake out... guess we'll see!

BZ

[bzabodyn]

Hope it all works out....


This made me laugh though.

"say a prayer that I can get through this without killing someone"


prayer/killing... I love it.

v/r
Mike

That's me in a nutshell - a devout Catholic with an MMA training background... I've been known to crack a skull every now and then  but I'm getting too old for that now a days...

BZ

[bzabodyn]

HLPAg is NEXT. Watch the papers and your local news !   

That's been a long time coming... soon enough, soon enough...

BZ

[Steve P.]

I don't get it myself.. I know of a few body shops that went belly up due to drinking and powdering their noses. Another to gambling and yet another to divorce.

I only know of one shop that hit rock bottom, (drinking dusk to dawn), and made a come-back. Great work but he can't keep anyone there as he doesn't let anything go... No short cuts.. Now with this economy and his high rent he is hurting... What do ya do?? 

[suntech]

Good to hear that your parts are ok at least!!

HLPAg is NEXT. Watch the papers and your local news !   

Googled them a few days ago (HLPAG) and foun a lot of complaints from customers and locals!!

[Charger_Fan]

Man, this is definitely one of those threads I hope to never read.   Hope everything works out well (as possible) for you in the end.

[moparstuart]

 I know brandon did some research and home work on shops when picking this place . Just goes to show anything can happen .

[The70RT]

I know brandon did some research and home work on shops when picking this place . Just goes to show anything can happen .

Yeah but he didn't get a hold of any customers that got burned. I wonder how they hid so much. I wonder if the BBB has any info on them. As much money they stiffed people out of it must have going on for some time. At least his cars were released.

[SFRT]

what a nightmare. I myself decided to do my own resto/bodywork and bring in a guy into my 'controlled' shopspace when it is something I cant do....after talking to a few local shops and it just being weird...so far it's going great. I figure I have put in about 150 hours in the last 2 months, it all looks great and I 'saved' 10K.....or more..plus, I am satisfied that little tiny corners that a shop might cut, arent.

stealing the time away from regular life is a hassle, but it beats something like this happening.

[RT/SE]

Hang in there BZ.  I'm sure everything will work out for the best in the end.  Just stay focused and keep moving forward.

[ChargerSG]

Thats suck. Hope everything work out

[bzabodyn]

Currently calling on a couple other resto shops to see if anyone is interested in taking on the project just so I can have a back-up plan... Still waiting to hear from the D.A. but I'm thinking any type of monetary reimbursement is going to be a year out or more...

SUCKS... to say the least!

BZ

[moparchris]

Brandon,
I'm sorry to hear of your ordeal.  I hope everything works out.  I know we're a little ways away over here in Az., but if you ever need them, I have two excellent guys over here that could finish your car to the standards I'm sure you want .  Pm me if you are ever interested in bringing your cars over here.  It's far but I can gaurentee you they would be safe with no B.S.
KEEP THE FAITH BROTHER!!!!

[4cruzin]

WOW hopefully this tunes out positive!!  Good luck!