Auto dealer has link to fraud

Police: Employee auctioned cars, failed to pay owners

A car sales business that operates out of a Glenmont car wash has an employee who has been arrested three times in the last year for allegedly keeping clients’ money and falsifying records. While the car wash’s owner says the two businesses are separate, the limited liability corporations are under the same name, and they operate at the same address on Route 9W. Glenmont Car Wash owner Dennis O’shaunghessy Jr. confirmed the suspect in question was an employee of the LLC, but said he would not answer other questions about the case.

The Albany County Sheriff ’s Office said in a news release that the suspect, an employee of the car dealership Car Wash Cars Inc., was arrested for selling a customer’s car at an auction in January and not returning her money.

After receiving a complaint in April, the sheriff ’s office found the suspect had falsely promised the victim that he would provide her compensation for the sale. According to court documents, he had signed a consignment agreement with the vehicle owner in July agreeing to sell the vehicle for no less than $6,500 within 90 days.

The victim didn’t hear from the suspect until months later, a few days after he sold the vehicle at an auction in January for $4,200. The suspect never returned the money to the victim, according to court records.

He could not be reached for comment about the allegations.

“He’s just a very shady individual,” said Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple. “People go to him to sell the car, he takes the car to the auction, and he’s not giving the car back or the money back, and then he’s changing his books.”

Investigators with New York State DMV Auto Theft also found the suspect falsified business records pertaining to the sale of the vehicle by entering the sale into the Department of Motor Vehicles system and omitting it from Car Wash Cars’ records.

He was arrested Tuesday and charged with grand larceny, falsifying business records and scheme to defraud. This is the third time in the last year that he was arrested for fraudulent vehicle business transactions, the sheriff ’s office said.

In a similar fashion, he sold another vehicle at an auction last year for $6,180 — significantly less than the minimum $8,500 stated in the initial consignment agreement. The suspect had canceled the agreement before selling the vehicle wholesale, making him unauthorized to sell it. The vehicle owners never got their money back.

His first arrest took place in August, after the sheriff ’s office also found that he had given a customer a fraudulent Arizona temporary registration in March 2021 after selling the person a vehicle.

The suspect remained employed by Car Wash Cars Inc. after his first arrest, but it is not clear whether the business has terminated him since the latest arrest.

Apple questions if the business owner is aware of his activities, but added, “I don’t know, I can’t prove that one way or another. I gotta imagine that the word was around, I would find it odd if they didn’t. The owner could be involved however. He is highly uncooperative.”

Since news of the suspect’s arrest spread last week, two more people have reached out to the sheriff ’s office to describe similar experiences with him, one of which took place as far as back as 15 years ago.

Apple said they will be pursuing charges for one of the new victims.