26 toyotas stolen and some misc fords.

Did they REALLY think they would get away???? ?
This is from a town just north of where i live. It's the middle of nowhere out here.


3 execs, 81 cars missing from Nebraska dealership
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Scores of new cars vanished from a western Nebraska car dealership and a prosecutor said Wednesday that some had turned up in other states and warrants had been issued for three missing executives.



Toyota automobiles from Legacy Ford Lincoln Mercury Toyota in Scottsbluff were loaded onto trucks Monday night.
The 81 Fords and Toyotas taken from Legacy Auto Sales in Scottsbluff were valued at about $2.5 million.

The Fords were put on transporter trucks and taken away Saturday and the Toyotas were shipped out late Monday, John Childress, Scotts Bluff County's chief deputy county attorney, said Wednesday.



Allen Patch
He said seven of the cars were found Wednesday at an auto auction in Utah. Others were found in Arizona, but he didn't know how many.

Childress said arrest warrants had been issued for owner Allen Patch, controller Rachel Fait and general manager Rick Covello, who are wanted on suspicion of theft.

"Employees were expecting these people to be in Tuesday morning, and they were surprised no one was there," Childress said. "It is not an expected departure."

Miranda Cervantes, the dealership's title manager, told the Scottsbluff Star-Herald she returned to work Tuesday after a day off and found the lot was virtually empty. She said the desks of Patch, Fait and Covello had been cleaned out.

Justin Leach, a spokesman for Toyota Financing in Torrance, Calif., said Patch financed the Toyotas and Fords through his company.

Legacy has had financial problems, Childress said, and authorities suspect Patch and his associates were looking to sell the vehicles to auction houses and keep the proceeds rather than pay Toyota Financing. He said the three have no criminal records in Nebraska.

All three previously lived in Utah, and the FBI and law enforcement agencies in several western states were searching for them, Childress said.

Leach said there are some provisions that would allow a dealer to move vehicles.

"But if the dealer and the cars go missing there's an issue," he said.

Most of the missing cars were Toyotas, but Childress didn't have an exact number.

All 81 cars had valid temporary titles, as required by state law, Childress said.

Despite the missing new cars and executives, Legacy Auto Sales remained open Wednesday. Cervantes did not respond to calls seeking additional comment.

Scottsbluff is 470 miles west of Omaha.




Published Thursday March 12, 2009
Police find 3 Neb. execs in missing car case
By JOSH FUNK Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Police have located three missing executives from a car dealership where 81 new vehicles worth roughly $2.5 million vanished, and at least one of the three has been arrested.

Scottsbluff Police Chief Kevin Spencer told KNEB radio that Legacy Auto Sales controller Rachel Fait had been arrested in Tooele County, Utah.

Spencer says the dealership's owner, Allen Patch, had been contacted through his lawyer in Utah. The dealership's general manager, Rick Covello, called police Wednesday afternoon from out of state and arranged to turn himself in.

All three previously lived in Utah.

Spencer did not respond to a message from The Associated Press left early Thursday morning.

About two dozen vehicles missing from the Scottsbluff dealership were traced to Salt Lake City, and at least 16 of those had been sold at an auto auction. Six others were found at the Scottsbluff airport, and the FBI found some of the other vehicles in Las Vegas.

The missing vehicles were all Fords and Toyotas. The Fords were put on transporter trucks and taken away Saturday and the Toyotas were shipped out late Monday, John Childress, Scotts Bluff County's chief deputy county attorney, said Wednesday.

Miranda Cervantes, the dealership's title manager, told the Scottsbluff Star-Herald she returned to work Tuesday after a day off and found the lot was virtually empty. She said the desks of Patch, Fait and Covello had been cleaned out.

Cervantes has not responded to calls seeking additional comment.

Justin Leach, a spokesman for Toyota Financing in Torrance, Calif., said Patch financed the Toyotas and Fords through his company.

Leach said there are some provisions that would allow a dealer to move vehicles, but when the dealer and the cars go missing there's reason to be concerned.

Legacy has had financial problems, Childress said, and authorities suspect Patch and his associates were looking to sell the vehicles to auction houses and keep the proceeds rather than pay Toyota Financing. He said the three have no criminal records in Nebraska.

___

Associated Press Writer Eric Olson contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

Legacy: http://www.legacyfordscottsbluff.com

 

update
State agency says Legacy situation has not hurt consumers
Published Thursday, March 12, 2009 at 10:13 AM

The Director of the Nebraska Motor Vehicle Industry Licensing Board says it appears the alleged theft of eighty vehicles from Legacy Auto of Scottsbluff has not impacted any Nebraska consumers. Owner Allen Patch and executives Rick Covello and Rachel Fait are wanted on warrants charging them with the theft of the cars, many of them found at Utah and Nevada car auction houses after their removal Monday evening.
The management team is suspected of converting manufacturer statement of origin documents to Nebraska titles, which is legal unless it is made in an effort to defraud. Authorities say the cars were owned by Toyota Financial and the Legacy executives were not permitted to sell them. Bill Jackson says the state agency's initial investigation indicates no consumers were hurt.
Jackson says this is not the first instance of something like the Legacy situation happening in Nebraska, noting several similar investigations have taken place over the last couple years due to the slumping economy. Roy Fiscus, who is working for Jackson's agency, is assisting local Police in their investigation

 

thats great. people are just stupid

 

You can tell the economy is bad when people start pulling desperate shit like this. Right across the street from my local dealership a bank got held up during the day and turned into a hostage situation that lasted a few hours. i was expecting the robber to be a piece of trash. turns out, he was a clean cut white dude, who worked at a local church (youth minister i think but can't remember) and had a successful real estate business. His reasoning.... "i needed money." the guy use to be an upstanding member of society with a very comfortable income. now he's resorted to robbing banks and holding hostages. i dont live in a bad neighborhood but i keep hearing gunshots from some of hte lower class apartment buildings in teh area. so i make sure to have a gun handy whenever i'm at home now. no telling when someone desperate will do something stupid. Things are getting unstable around here