Two federal court proceedings last month illustrate the risk of customer fraud to dealerships and lenders.
Eddie Earl Hendrickson, 41, pleaded guilty March 15 to a single count of conspiracy to commit financial institution fraud. However, he admitted in a plea agreement to financing $84,394.34 worth of Stellantis vehicles with another person’s Social Security number. Hendrickson also admitted to using fraud to finance multiple motorcycles and ATVs — 15 vehicles in total and more than $201,000 in loans.
Desiree Sanchez, 28, was sentenced March 28 to more than four years in prison for single counts of bank fraud and possession of stolen mail. She admitted in a July 2021 plea agreement to using two other people’s identities to obtain vehicles — a new Genesis G80 worth $55,490 leased from a Hyundai dealership, and a used Honda Accord purchased from an Acura store. A federal complaint against Sanchez alleged the G80 transaction involved $53,495 in financing.
Hendrickson said he worked with another party identified only as “Person A.” This accomplice provided Hendrickson with the Social Security number of a victim whose name “was very similar to the defendant,” according to the plea agreement.
Hendrickson said he used the stolen Social Security number to obtain a $21,658 loan for a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee on Dec. 30, 2019, and a $26,267.64 loan for a 2015 Ram 1500 Rebel on Jan. 9, 2020. The transactions involved a Michigan Stellantis dealership about an hour northwest of Detroit and lender Case Credit Union, according to the plea deal.
On Jan. 10, 2020, Hendrickson borrowed $36,468.70 from PNC Bank for a 2018 Dodge Charger from the independent retailer Automania in a suburb bordering Detroit.
“After obtaining the vehicles described above, the defendant and Person A either retained possession of the vehicles, sold them or gave them to third parties, or otherwise fraudulently disposed of them,” the plea agreement signed by Hendrickson states.
Hendrickson is scheduled to be sentenced June 29. His attorney Haralambos Mihas of Smith Mihas declined to comment April 8.
The original federal complaint dated Aug. 13, 2021, also alleged Hendrickson used fraud to acquire a 2019 Dodge Charger from Extreme Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep-Ram in Jackson, Mich., an hour west of Detroit, on Jan. 13, 2020, with a $31,186 loan from Citizens Bank.
The March 15 plea agreement signed by Hendrickson and the government said the vehicle was a 2019 Honda CRF 450 motorcycle, but Extreme General Manager Mark Trudell told Automotive News it was a Charger with Scat Pack trim.
Trudell said fortunately for his dealership Hendrickson “never turned off the GPS.” Authorities used that technology to trace both Chargers to a Flint, Mich., address.
Trudell said his dealership was able to get the vehicle back in good shape. “Nothing had been done to it yet,” he said.
Authorities said lenders received no payments on any of the 15 vehicles Henderson financed through the loans he obtained fraudulently.
Trudell said the Charger was a chargeback, and the dealership’s insurer refused to cover the cost — leading him to work “double hard” to find the vehicle.
Trudell said the insurer argued that the dealership should have spotted the fraud through Hendrickson’s identification. However, he said it looked legitimate. Extreme has since switched carriers, he said.
“You do the best you can,” Trudell said. The dealership talked about the subject internally following the incident, but while in hindsight there might have been a red flag or two, nothing was glaring at the time of the transaction, he said.
“The guy was pretty clean on everything,” Trudell said.
Sanchez admitted in the plea deal to using one victim’s identity and a fake California driver’s license in that name on April 26, 2020, to buy the Honda Accord from an unspecified Acura dealership in Pittsburg, Calif., east of San Francisco. The plea agreement said the transaction involved “a fraudulent form of payment.”
On June 25, 2020, Sanchez used a different victim’s identity and a phony check for $7,000 from a closed Wells Fargo account to lease the Genesis G80 from Hyundai of Stockton in Stockton, Calif., according to court records. Hyundai of Stockton declined to comment.
Sanchez said she handled the purchase and assumed the victims’ identities in these two incidents. However, another person, Richard Waters III, admitted to involvement in those crimes in an August 2021 plea agreement. He also pleaded guilty to single counts of bank fraud and possession of stolen mail and is scheduled to be sentenced May 16.
Both Sanchez and Waters also admitted to having been caught with more than 300 pieces of stolen mail on May 11, 2020, and “five large trash bags” of stolen mail seven days later.
Attorneys for Sanchez and Waters declined to comment on their respective cases April 8.
The initial complaint also alleged Sanchez used stolen identities to buy an Infiniti G35 from independent Sacramento, Calif., dealership Queens Auto Sales and an Audi A4 from Honda of Serramonte in Colma, Calif., south of San Francisco. The Infiniti was allegedly purchased for $9,380.25 using a loan pre-approved by Westlake Financial Services. However, neither transaction is mentioned in the plea agreement signed by Sanchez and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Neither dealership has responded to a request for comment.