Florida Man Pleads Guilty to Odometer Tampering Charges

Drew Mitchell Schreiber, of Orlando, Florida, pleaded guilty yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida to three counts of odometer tampering.

Schreiber, owner of Central Florida Automotive Group (now-named Southeastern Credit Union Solutions), in Winter Garden, Florida, purchased high-mileage used vehicles from wholesale automobile auctions throughout Florida. The vehicles’ odometers were then rolled back as much as 428,000 miles and resold to unsuspecting used-vehicle dealers via auto auctions or by online direct sales. The rolled-back vehicles were then sold to victims throughout the United States enriching Schreiber with fraudulent gains. In all, Schreiber sold 140 rolled-back vehicles. Because many of these vehicles were more than 10 years old, Schreiber obtained so-called “exempt” titles that did not reveal the actual mileage of the vehicles.

“Just because a motor vehicle may be exempt from mileage recording on a title does not give a dealer the right to roll back odometers,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “With vehicles remaining in use for longer periods of time, many Americans rely on older vehicles as their primary mode of transportation. Used car buyers deserve peace of mind knowing that the odometer reading in their vehicle is correct.”

A sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later date. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Office of Odometer Fraud Investigation investigated this case.

Trial Attorney David Sullivan of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kara Wick for the Middle District of Florida prosecuted the case.

Additional information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts can be found at www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch.

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Source: Justice.gov